Last night I watched a deeply disturbing BBC prog on Vietnams dangerous dog-stealing trade. Those stolen dogs, are dogs so shell-shocked and traumatised that despite being handled by the hundreds, force-fed with tubes shoved down their throats to fattening them artificially prior to being sold on to middle men, that they are eerily silent. Stuffed into cages with no water or food, packaged into cages loaded onto trucks like pigs and chickens are transported for journeys of many, many hours in terrible heat - only to when they reach Hanoi to be then held in pits in the ground where they stay until one-by-one they are yanked out with a pole at which end is a loop of wire which gives the chef control of the dog. Each dog is stunned until it passes out, and then has its neck slit to be blooded and skinned, the fur often sold on for use in the garment industry for fur trimming. No, the treatment of this food source is not regulated, unlike for other farm animals, and Laws which would force Humane treatment in Vietnam of the animals are in their infancy. Problems with health as a result of consuming badly treated and ill dogs wasnt even mentioned as a concern by most customers. Dog stealing is fined, but no further police activity, health checks or Humane treatment of animals policy is engaged when these trucks roll in to market. It is a corrupt industry serving a market that doesnt care as long as it is fresh meat! Many restaurant owners interviewed said they couldnt be bothered to worry whether the dog was stolen or reared to be food, these thieves and restauranteurs were only capitalising on the fashionable and lucrative trend in serving up fresh meat - dog - in exotic popular dishes when celebrating or entertaining. Many dog meat gourmands said they had no compunction eating their pets! I am sure every person reading this by now knows that dogs experience exactly the same type of emotional states as we do. We also know by now that dogs are very good at interpreting human expressions and behaviour, far better than humans are at discerning dog emotions. These dogs can and are being treated viciously. Being rammed into cages so that they lie on top and alongside each other so tightly packed that they cannot move was a horrible thing to see. I think it behoves us in the West to intervene for Humane treatment of dogs transported to Hanoi restaurants. The animals in the cages destined for Hanois popular dog dishes look at one with no expression on their faces, as if they are locked up safely inside themselves where they cannot be hurt. Most of them are too dehydrated to move at anything more that a lethargic pace when let out. The strangest cognitive dissonance experience for me when viewing the prog lies in seeing hundreds of skinned and penned dogs alongside a chained-up family pet! I can say with certainty these family pets show all the typical signs of depression. We need to get a petition started on this: introduce legislation which ensures proper chain-of-ownership policing of, and humane treatment and regulation of dogs destined for the Citys restaurants. I wish we could get the practice of eating dog meat banned completely, yet I somehow think this latter issue is judgemental and hypocritical whilst we in the West eat pig, an animal whose flesh is the closest to human meat than any other, and an animal which makes a brilliant affectionate pet with very high cognitive skills too! Thats me for tonight, folks! Gdnight! Xx yr fellow vegetarian xx
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 05:07:29 +0000
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