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It can be a hard pill to swallow if we think about our beloved companions in a hot boiling pot ready to be served. However, this is exactly the case in many areas of China where both dog and cat meat is sold to the public. It isn’t uncommon to see dog and cat meat restaurants in China especially in northern China because back in ancient times dog meat was once considered a medicinal tonic, and popular for its supposed warming qualities.
Dogs and cats raised in farms were often hung and killed right in front of the buyers at street stands where the dog and cats meat are sold. This horrific practice has since attracted tens of thousands of signatures from online petitions against dog and cat consumption from the now growing pet-loving, urban middle class of China.
Pet owners not only frown upon this practice but are worried as well due to cases where dogs served at the restaurants are often stolen pets. With tension from the public and pet lovers all around the world, laws are slowly being written to ban and protect more animals facing abusive situations in China.
In a huge move for Animal Rights Activists, Chinese legal experts are proposing a ban on eating dogs and cats. According to the draft, illegal sale or consumption of pets would incur the maximum of 15 days in prison for individuals charged and a 500,000 yuan fine for businesses.
Though the punishment is not much, change might finally be on it’s way.
“We are proposing that all dog and cat eating should be banned because it is causing many social problems,” said Chang Jiwen, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who heads the drafting team.
Chang Jiwen claims that the economic impact of the ban would be small due to the increasingly large population of people who are less dependent on dog and cat meat.
Naturally, the plan to ban a practice that has been done for hundreds of years will stir up heated debates between animal welfare groups and defenders of traditional values. Protest from those who feel injustices in animal welfare while the human population at large are still in poverty, and protest from those who believe in the change to move forward.
Cross your fingers, this might be the beginning of the end of a brutal practice involving our beloved companion animals.
If they ban dog and cat meat, then why not ban all other animal meat as well? That only seems fair.
If people want to eat it, let them eat it. Those who steal others’ pets for food should be punished for theft, but those who raise the animals for food should still be able to.
And like the article mentioned, some people are so poor dog and cat meat is the only meat they can afford. So people should starve just because those who have the money to put food on the table disapprove?
No need to eat dogs and cats. This cruelty has to stop, as us humans are getting more aware of animals, in another way, with more compassion. We need to learn to treat them with love, care, respect they deserve. They wat to live too, just like us. Is time for us to find solutions to stop this completely.
the article mentioned that this practice was done back in “ancient times”. Well guess what, its no longer “ancient times”. There is no need to make a meal out of cats and dogs and there is no “medicinal benefit” to this practice.