dog love: chinese dogs rescued from becoming dinner meat
I recently came across an amazing story from China about a stand-off between a driver delivering a shipment of 500 dogs to be sold as meat to restaurants, and 300 animal rights protesters who found out about the shipment of dogs for meat and decided to do something about it.
Police were called, but the truck driver wasn't breaking any laws, so what ensued was a 15 hour stand off at a toll booth ending in the animal activists purchasing the dogs for $18,000 from the driver, about $36 a dog.
The dogs were sent to recover at 20 animal hospitals, and at an animal rescue compound. To read more about this issue, check out my blog about the dog meat festival that was canceled in Eastern China last year.
Do you think that the attitude in Eastern China of seeing dogs as meat is changing?
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31 comments
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Please take a look at this blog about the wonderful people helping animals in China.
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The Kind Diet has turned me on to a TON of Asian foods with wonderful health benefits such as seaweed, miso soup, umeboshi plums, and barley tea! I realize there is a wealth of knowledge in the Eastern philosophy, culture and cuisine. This site has always respected and promoted that!
This is a simple victory of 500 dogs being saved from slaughter. Dogs are not meat, this is a sensitive subject for dog lovers like me. Just today I was feeling ill, and Tucker comes up and cuddles me and I feel better; almost like he is taking away my pain. My two dogs are literally my best friends. So even though those scumbags took off happy with 18k, at least the dogs were rescued.
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ps- @ Jenny, the dog meat festival is in a different province than last years, it is a separate one altogether but rest assured there are blogs whizzing around weibo, renren and QQ to get people to do as they did in the other province. why not join us in our facebook group and keep up to date with things :o)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/338437586175455/#!/groups/338437586175455/
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there are over 200 rescue/welfare orgs inside of China/Hong Kong/Macau. I am co founder of a group on facebook for and of Asian Animal Rights Activists and we have many Chinese members. There is a misconception that Chinese people all eat dogs and cats and don't love animals. We dispel this myth. Why not join us and learn about what is really going on in Asia and at the same time meet some lovely people? You'll be pleasantly surprised and then you can also see the list of the rescue/welfare orgs :o)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/338437586175455/#!/groups/338437586175455/
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Thanks Alicia for sharing the good news. So, do we have any news whether this year's Dog Meat Festival has been banned, like last year?
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Haha, I'm sorry if the admins don't like being publicly critisized, but someone needs to stand up for the puppies.
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As a vegan and animal rights activist, I try not to fool myself into believing that people will stop eating the flesh of an animal because I know most people will never give up meat. To that end, I do not preach veganism. My philosphy has always been, live and let live. With that said, my hopes and dreams are and have always been that we treat the animals we use as a food source with dignity and kindness. As much as I hate the thought of other cultures eating dogs and cats, what upsets me more is HOW THESE ANIMALS ARE TREATED. Is it necessary to jam 5 dogs into a tiny cage like that? Is it necessary to pack them all on top of one another so that the animals in the middle and bottom suffocate and die from being crushed to death and/or from lack of oxygen. Is it necessary to jam chickens into small cages, debeak them in order to deter them from pecking one another due to extreme stress? Is it necessary to force feed ducks & geese so some people can enjoy their eating liver? IS ALL THIS CRUELTY NECESSARY???? Why must humans be so cruel to the beings they share this earth with? Why must these dog/cat eating people be so darn cruel? Why???? Why so much cruelty? Prisoners in maximum security prisons are treated with more care.
If you want to eat meat, fine. If you want to eat cats/dogs/rabbits/chickens/cows/lambs et al. Fine! Eat them. But must they be treated so inhumanely before being put to death????
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Thank you, Alicia for bringing attention to this issue. My heritage stems from Chinese, Indian and now, Canadian and my ancestors kept dogs as pets not a food source. It would have been inconceivable for my parents to eat anything dog or cat related especially since one parent is a vegetarian!
However, that being said, I agree with "Wishful's" comments that we should be respectful of other culture's culinary history, Miles Remmick's POV and to an extent, Ben Miller's. True, he did make some uncalled for remarks that unfortunately, overhadowed the reality of his comments. So much that they have removed him from this forum, I see.
In the Hindu culture, cows are sacred. They must think the rest of us are savages!!! The picture posted with this article, can be easily replaced with chickens, cows and pigs. This is how majority of these animals are raised and slaughtered in North America. Everyday, animals live and die in the conditions infinitely worse than many of us could imagine. All to satisfy our meat craving appetites at a cheap dollar. I'd like to think Canada is better, but that would be naive. Yet, where are the protests and forums for North American animals?
While I absolutely do not condone the killing of dogs for food, the bigger issue here for me is the inhuman treatment and slaughter of ANY animal for a food source or to benefit a human. Unfortunately, what I keep reading on this thread is everyone judging one another and not actually hearing where people are coming from. Perhaps we should take all this energy and funnel it into a worthy cause like lobbying the government to prevent the passing of ag-gag laws (US), or to have subsidized medical care or a tax break for those of us making an effort to live healthy lives and subsequently, we don't stress out the provincial heath care facilities (Canada).
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That's great and all, but how many dogs are going to die in the future because they sacrificed long-term goals to meet short-term ones?
One of the leaders in the fight against breeding white tigers was asked, "Why don't you just buy all the white tigers?" The response was genius: "First, we can't buy them all, but more importantly, because if we buy white tigers, we're telling those who breed them that we support what they are doing."
These people sent a clear message that they support those who work in the dogmeat industry. What good is saving dogs today if the cost is several fold tomorrow?
If only their leaders were people of vision. -
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I just made a donation to SAFAR. These poor animals need our help. Alicia, thank you for sharing.
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I agree with and appreciate Rhonda's response. Yes it is a cultural issue and I usually cringe when I see "Chinese people eat dogs" postings as people don't seem to realize one man's pet is another person's food to many. It is unfortunate that dogs, cats, giraffes, chickens, sharks - any anomal becomes a meal for a human, but it is more unfortunate when cultural differences hide the overall problem of a meat-eating society/world. Yes, a lot of people would rise up againt the issue of eating dogs, but fewer would rise up against the issue of eating beef in the United States. It's not seen as an animal dying for our consumption, it's seen as "that's a pet" vs. "that's what cows are for".
We'll only really start being a vegetarian/vegan society when the governments stop pushing not only their own political agendas for the food industry, but when they help to educate people on ways to eat a proper diet (which would probably have meat in it for a while in China and other places) which sustains the environment and respects animals and people.
In the meantime, please keep an open mind on other cluture's attitudes towards food sources.
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All my animals have been rescues of one kind or another. some are challanged by their bodies but all have given me life lessons that have been vitally important to me living life to the fullest. I can't imagine being without a dog by my side. There is a positive physical response humans have when in contact with a canine & it is objective--there are chemicals released in our body that can be tracked in our blood to prove the therapeutic nature of these interactions. Animal assist therapy is a wonderful way of giving a dog work that is beneficial to humans. It is unfathomable to me to witness the terrible treatment of such divine creatures.
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Ben, I am not a "Rich American", far from it as many Americans are experiencing these days. Being a vegan, vegetarian or just trying to live a more compassionate life has nothing to do with your financial position. Since when did all of us who decide to live a more peaceful and healthful life become rich liberal elitists? I spent five bucks at the grocery store yesterday and bought tofu, kale, oatmeal, brown rice, onions, carrots and parsley which will feed me for a while.
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Anyway, so after reading the article about the dog rescue, I was thinking that there must be some way to help the nacsent Chinese animal rights movement so I Googled "Wang Qi" - the guy mentioned in the article who works for the China Small Animal Protection Association (CSAPA) who brought all those people out to rescue the dogs. He's my new hero.
I think this is the CSAPA website ==> http://www.csapa.org/rootSITE/english/english.htm
Also, I found another website for the group SAFAR, The Student Alliance for Animal Rights that tries to educate Chinese kids about animal rights. Perhaps teaching China's youths is the key to changing attitudes?
SAFAR website ==> http://safarus.wordpress.com/
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Ben, I think the main motivation (at the very least, I can speak for myself) in coming to this website is to aim to do what we can to minimize cruelty toward those who are less fortunate than we are: animals and human beings alike. I'm not sure what sort of point you are trying to make by ranting and making cruel statements, yourself. We're all here to do the best that we can, within our own means. Some of the members here are vegan and some of us are simply trying to live kinder lives. I don't find anything about this website "self-righteous": rather, it's informational and inspirational.
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Ben Miller: I do believe that this is the wrong site for you. We are all about positivity and living a kind lifestyle. Eating dogs does not fit into the category. Why are you part of this site???
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Thank you Alicia for sharing this story. It can give us all something to think about as we see the picture of the helpless dogs crammed together in these tiny cages that we would only put one dog. If we take the time to learn about other cultures, perhaps we can find ways to share the message that these are sentient beings and make a difference. That is what your blog is doing. I am hopeful that through exposing these treatments of animals it will help people to become active in doing something for the animals. Be a voice, there is so much a voice can do when used respectfully and intelligently. Start with sharing these things on your social medias, organize a few people and brainstorm of ways to help animals in your community or in other countries, write your congressmen, write a short editorial and send to your local newspapers. We all can do something.
Just this year a man in our vegetarian group looked at our community animal control reports online and shared it at our group. We did not know and so now that we were informed, a couple of us got together and we are working on promoting a No Kill advocacy in our community.
I just learned what Bobby Cows are and I think it would be a good story to share so people can learn what happens everyday to the baby calves that are not wanted in the dairy industry.
I would like to recommend a book to read "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows" by Melanie Joy PhD. Dr. Joy is spreading the word about carnism.
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@ kat, if you click on "view all" up above the comments the little "Flag" icons will appear next to all the comments. Then you can click on the "Flag" to report the troll.
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How do you flag someone? I'd also like to flag Ben Miller. I don't come to this website to read confrontational comments like that. (UPDATE: nevermind, I figured it out!)
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On the original subject of the dog rescue by the Chinese activist, I have to say, WAY TO GO! I love that they all connected through the internet to band together to do this heroic thing. I'm also glad the Chinese government didn't do anything to them for being activist. It took a lot of courage to stand up and do something like that, especially in that environment. Gives me hope.
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Unfortunatly you have to stoop to narrow minded solutions when you are dealing with narrow minded people that think the consumption of an animal is okay, or shoving them into crates like that. If it was your child that was about to be sent to slaughter you would do anything to stop it. These creatures were put into our care and since they have no voice it is up to us to speak for them. One look into any one of those dogs eyes would tell any person with feelings that they are screaming for hope.
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Ben Miller is so obviously a troll. Going on a vegan blog and declaring "I'd eat dogs" is as transparent (and evil) as it gets. Just flagged him.
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