By William Wan, Published: May 28 BEIJING — The mutts were destined for the dinner table — all 520 of them crammed onto a truck hurtling down a Beijing highway toward awaiting restaurants in northeastern China. Then, fate intervened in the form of a passing driver, an animal lover who spotted the truck and angrily forced it off the road. From there, things began spiraling out of control. News of the confrontation hit the Chinese blogosphere, sending more than 200 animal activists flocking immediately to the highway. Traffic on the road slowed to a standstill. Dozens of police officers were called in. Animal activists, however, kept arriving with reinforcements, carrying water, dog food, even trained veterinarians for a siege that lasted 15 hours. Weeks later, those who were there still talk in disbelief at how quickly things escalated. But in many ways, it was a battle that has been brewing for years between the rural and the urbanites, the poor and the rich — between China’s dog eaters and its growing number of dog lovers. The standoff last month has sparked the widest-ranging discussions to date in China over animal rights. Pictures and videos from the incident have spawned endless arguments on e-mail groups and blogs, Web polls and news stories delving into each side’s points. And the debate is the latest sign of China’s rapidly changing mores and culture. For centuries, dog meat has been coveted for its fragrant and unique flavor; it is an especially popular dish in the winter, when it is believed to keep you warm. But pet ownership has skyrocketed in recent years as China’s booming economy produced a burgeoning middle class with both money and time for four-legged friends. And with the new pet stores, a once powerless animal rights movement is slowly gaining traction. The highway incident has been its biggest success thus far. The mob of dog lovers finally won the standoff by pooling together more than $17,000 to pay off the truck driver. But their victory was quickly eclipsed when they soon realized they had no idea where to house the hundreds of loud, wild and decidedly not housebroken canines. Even after combining forces, the handful of animal rights groups in the region had trouble handling the overflow from the truck. Most of the dogs they unloaded were strays, and many were dehydrated, malnourished or suffering from deadly viruses. Several have died since the rescue. Dozens this week remained under treatment at animal hospitals around Beijing. “We are a small organization. We haven’t even tried to pay the animal hospital bills yet,” said Wang Qi, 32, who works at the China Small Animal Protection Association. “There was so much enthusiasm when the dogs were first rescued, but our worry is, what happens now?” The trucker, Hao Xiaomao, has not fared any better in the aftermath. Reached by phone in his home province of Henan, Hao said he lost a small fortune, more than $3,000, after being forced into the deal. Worst of all, because he failed to deliver, no one has been willing to hire him since. “I still don’t understand what was immoral about my shipment. People also eat cow and sheep. What’s the difference?” he asked. Of the activists, he said, “They were just a group of rich bullies who own pets and have nothing better to do.” Several others have also raised the specter of class warfare — a common meme in modern China amid the widening gap between rich and poor. In online debates, many have noted the symbolic nature of the confrontation: a working trucker forced off the road by a black Mercedes-Benz whose driver was on his way to a resort hotel with his girlfriend. The issue comes with historical baggage as well, notes Jiang Jinsong, a philosophy professor at Tsinghua University. “During the Cultural Revolution, having a pet was seen as a capitalist activity. Only the rich and arrogant had dogs and allowed them to bite poor people,” he said. “So there’s this implication that if you treated pets well, you will treat those who are weaker badly.” At least one netizen has taken this argument to the extreme. Enraged by activists fighting for animals while ignoring the plight of so many rural, impoverished Chinese, a man in Guangzhou posted threats online to kill a dog a day until animal activists donate the money they raised to peasants living in poverty instead of to dogs. “I felt I had to do something to represent the grass-roots people,” said Zhu Guangbing, 35, who recently plastered his threat on Twitterlike microblogs in China. “I grew up in a poor village. We raised one dog to watch the door and one to be killed in the Lunar New Year because we were too poor to buy pork. I don’t understand what’s wrong with that.” Within days, Zhu found his name, cellphone number, office number, and even his parents’ number posted online. “My parents got calls condemning them for raising a son like me,” he said, having logged more than 200 threats so far. “One elementary school teacher even called me and had her students insult me over the phone one by one.” But dog activists have defended their fervor as a necessity. China does not have any laws against cruelty to animals, and by some estimates, as many as 10 million dogs — some vagrant, others stolen pets — are sold for consumption each year and are often kept under horrible conditions. “People are saying it’s a silly thing protecting animals,” said Wang, the activist. “But it is a question of civilization. “By teaching people in this country to love little animals, maybe we can help them to love their fellow human beings better.” But Zhu scoffed at that notion. Last week, he was forced to quit his job after his company began receiving threatening phone calls as well. “I didn’t even intend to kill dogs. I was just making a point,” he said. “The animal activists claim to have the moral high ground, but look at what they did to me. Can they really say they have love at the front of their heart?” Staff researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report. Source: The Washington Post URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...-animal-rights/2011/05/20/AGvgmVDH_print.html ------------ MY COMMENT: This is a Chinese tradition that I come to hate. Regardless of rich and poor, it is not morally right to consume domesticated animals. What do you all think?
I think it's wrong, especailly the fact that some steal housekeepers animal to sell for consumption. It's disgusting! It is because of this some asians get criticized for eating dogs, this in turn builds up the dog eating stereotype.
I agree with you. I hate it everytime one of my Western friends say that Chinese are inhumane and repulsive by eating dogs and cats.
Cattle is also domesticated, yet I'm confident you've consumed some recently. If you've seen some of the feedlots, you would also be enraged. However, cattle aren't as adorable as a dog so you define it as repulsive? What about veal, it's esentially baby cow that you're eating, yet there is no outrage... Unless you're a vegetarian, you're sounding awfully like a hypocrite to me.
I agree with you .. killing and eating animal is the same .. why dogs and cats are any different? Humane?? Poor rural people need to survive too ..
people wanna take their dogs to the vet.. get their health checked.. buy clothes for them.. toys.. food.. custom playpens.. yet people are fukin' crippled.. hungry.. sick.. starving... don't have proper clothing.. sick.. starving.. fuk that shit.. Eat those fukin' bitches! people aren't out eating chihuahuas or lil ass pets.. if you have lil pets fine.. people ain't eating them. There's no meat to it. They're raising it for slaughter hows that any different from other animals..
I don't eat beef. It's because dogs/cats are our four legged friend, they are not just pets but friends; in civil manners anyway. Indeed in poor countries they have nothing to live upon so they eat whatever they could get their hands on. Some even kill monkeys and eat it, the unfortunate ones would catch diseases such as ebola syndrome (read up some articles). A majority of people who taste something new says it taste like chicken, but how does chicken exactly taste? There's so many type out there, sweetcorn chicken, old chicken, fighting chicken.etc All have different texture and taste. Different type of chicken fit for different purposes (ie: people mainly use cheap chicken to prepare lemon chicken, but of course for home owners we would use chicken that has a firm texture to it...)
don't want to diverse the topic but did ya know some countries eat human foetus cos of the nutrition value?
heard japanese once ate baby feces... I know people from other places were into eating placenta at one point... but that's aside from this.. Dog in Hot Pot.. fukin' delicious...
Beef is merely one of many examples. My point is, if you eat meat, regardless of it being beef or something else, you've contributed to some very horrible treatment to animals. Once again, unless you're a vegetarian, calling this repulsive is ridiculously hypocritical. Hell, the vegetables you eat have probably caused various wildlife to give birth to offspring with birth defects.
I was already expecting this. Yes you are right in the sense that despite what animal it is, it is still a living being and saying that eating animals are disgusting is being hypocritical. However, dogs/cats aren't our natural heirarchy of food chain. I would ought to believe that pigs are killed in a humane way but those eating dogs/cats are not. They are smashed whilst being trapped within cages from as little as 1ft high (as high as a delivery van), I've seen videos like that and the way they kill these poor animals are brutal. Are you saying that you are vegetarian then? Seems like it is, even so I have nothing against that. We humans choose our way to live and enjoy our lives. Whilst keeping all factors constant it does not necessarily mean eating vegetables would cause the animals in the wilds to become malnutrition and in turn cause defective foetus which leads to being born with problems. There are other food out there which could serve as a potential nutrient and that is sufficient for the animals grow out stage. Besides vegetables those animals would usually follow the standard rule of 'big eat small', it's nature and it's the survival of the fittest.
NO, Dogs don't taste like chicken!! Dog taste like lamb and it's pretty good but if you have the mentality like most people these days, thinking dogs are your friends and stuff like that, it's going to be hard to swallow. If it's back faces toward the sky than it can be eaten. It's just the society most of us are bought up in, have a lot of ill emotions about people eating certain things, I think the way some of those activists treated that person with different opinions from them are even worst. Getting him fired and harshing his parents and stuff just made them the bad people. Food is part of people's cultures and you may not like what others eat but you should at least respect other peoples food cultures. They are not forcing you to eat it so why bother them. It would be great if all animals can be treated humanely before we kill it and eat it but that just don't happen sometimes.
Lmao, you are hilarious. Just because you THINK pigs are killed in humane ways, does not mean they are. Far from it. Also, I am far from a vegetarian lol, I'm the kid who hates eating vegetables. In addition, the birth defects are not caused by humans robbing animals of sustenance. It's the pesticides that are used to grow those vegetables, and in turn they seep into the ground water that animals drink or the runoff flows into rivers. If we go back to your logic, of "big eat small" then what's wrong with eating dogs? Natural Hierarchy? ROFL, more like what you think should be food. Anyways, I'm confident that people originally consumed dogs/cats because they were poor and had little or no livestock to feed themselves with. Considering how dogs/cats weren't neutered/spayed back then, its the most logical way of keeping the stray pet population low while feeding the poor. Western society on the other hand takes care of dogs for personal enjoyment rather than out of necessity.
Lol, we're not animals (theoretically we are but lets not get into too much details =P) we're humans, those are wild animals/creatures. That's true, like what tofu raised. Society has influenced us what should be eaten or what not. Mentally, it is hard to accept eating our 'beloved friend' but for some it's still classified as food. Hmm, that's true.
EWWWWW you sickkoo!!!! anyways yeah i think people use the word "domesticated" animals as a B.S. way to get out of an argument to determine which species of animals are bred to be eaten and which one is bred to be your "friend." I think it is no more wrong to eat a dog than a cow but doesn't mean i will eat dogs because of the way i was raised and "educated" to believe and take in the thought that dogs are a man's best friend. But put me out in the world without telling me that i would've eaten that dog no question asked. In the end people can ask questions like "well so you would eat dogs but then whats the difference about cannibalism?" Well the difference is dogs aren't humans, i mean a dog will probably eat a human also if they aren't bred that way but they probably wont eat their own species.
