Current Events > 68 dogs headed to slaughterhouses rescued from China's dog meat festival

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3138158/rescue-68-dogs-headed-slaughterhouse-spotlights

Chinese animal activists in a southern Chinese city intercepted a truck last week filled with 68 dogs crammed into rusty wired cages headed for a slaughterhouse, likely to be eaten during the notorious dog meat festival. According to the Humane Society International (HSI), the dogs were intercepted outside the city of Yulin, in the Guangxi autonomous region. Many of them were in poor health, and several of them offered their paws to the activists, a behaviour that suggested the animals were stolen pets. A Guangxi animal welfare activist who wished to stay anonymous said they had hoped the authorities would confiscate the dogs as they arrived in Yulin, but decided to save the dogs themselves when there was no action. The Yulin authorities have a responsibility to protect public health who knows what diseases [these dogs] could carry that could end up in the food market, the activist said. The dogs were moved to a temporary facility to rest, recover and receive veterinary care before workers transfer them to a shelter supported by HSI.

Peter Li, a China policy specialist for HSI, said the 68 dogs are now safe, but thousands of other dogs in Yulin, and millions across China, would not be so lucky. Through dog theft, illegal trans-provincial transport and inhumane slaughter, the trade not only subjects animals to suffering but also risks public health with the potential for the spread of rabies and other diseases. These are compelling reasons for the Chinese authorities to end this trade once and for all, he said. Li said dog traders organised the Yulin festival more than a decade ago to attract tourists, but it never became an official event. In its heyday, it was pitched as a cultural gathering around the solstice during which locals happened to eat dog meat as part of their tradition. The Guangxi provincial government denied any role in organising the festival and called it a gathering of the public during the summer solstice. The underground nature of the festival, and increasing international scrutiny, means the schedule is loose, but it typically lasts for around 10 days starting around the solstice, which was on June 21 this year. Domestic and international pressure to ban the culture of eating dog meat has tempered the event in recent years. Still, an estimated 30 million dogs a year are killed across Asia for their meat, and some 10-20 million of those deaths are in China, according to the HSI.

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Cultural differences

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@Shablagoo

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Fuck yeah! I hope they do this every year

Pigs are just as intelligent as dogs, why don't Americans have a problem with the pig holocaust going on in their country?

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Pigs are just as intelligent as dogs, why don't Americans have a problem with the pig holocaust going on in their country?

Because pigs didn't evolve alongside humans as a companion. They were more or less always wild animals or raised exclusively for food.

Dogs have always been companion animals for as long as they were domesticated, and their genetic makeups suggest they were destined to live alongside man.

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DowntownMrSmith posted...

Pigs are just as intelligent as dogs, why don't Americans have a problem with the pig holocaust going on in their country?

Bacon

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Neat. I'm always happy to see any animals saved from the slaughterhouse.

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Lordgold666 posted...

@Shablagoo

This is great news that these poor dogs were rescued and I hope this practice continues to be stamped out.

What are your thoughts on the 30 million cows and 130 million pigs that suffer under these conditions and worse in the U.S. every year, being artificially impregnated over and over until their bodies wear out and they are finally killed too, living in terrible conditions where dead animals will just be left to lie there in the stalls, etc.? The whole world needs to take a lesson from these activists (and others like them) and start treating all these sentient beings better.

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"China's dog meat festival" when it's really just Yulin but okay.

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LostForest posted...

Because pigs didn't evolve alongside humans as a companion. They were more or less always wild animals or raised exclusively for food.

Dogs have always been companion animals for as long as they were domesticated, and their genetic makeups suggest they were destined to live alongside man.

all of this is true. especially the bolded part. dog's meant to be companions at the very least.
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Save the cows next

It is taking all of my brainpower not to read the title as "68-headed dog..."

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I tried the vegan thing and it didnt work out. Im slowly going vegetarian tho. 2/3 of my daily meals are veg. Even clothing i buy these days i buy 100% cotton. Ever since i saw that sheep castration video.

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These dogs aren't raised as pets, they are farmed like for the purpose of protein and nutrition.

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Chicken posted...

Bacon

And ribs, Kansas City BBQ is best with pork ribs.
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There are 2 options

1) All animals are okay to eat
2) No animals are okay to eat

any other opinion of having animals that are okay/not okay for consumption is just hypocrisy and socialized carnism.

Option 2 is the correct one, btw


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Chicken and Fish are great though.

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discodancer77 posted...

There are 2 options

1) All animals are okay to eat
2) No animals are okay to eat

any other opinion of having animals that are okay/not okay for consumption is just hypocrisy and socialized carnism.

Option 2 is the correct one, btw

Not all plants are okay to eat, but we eat a select few. It's hypocrisy to stand on one side of a line while pointing out all the faults of the other without realizing what you're saying it complete bullshit in the first place. Attacking socialized anything goes against the laws of civilization and actually makes you a radical for even contemplating it's existence.

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CloneTheHero posted...

exactly. its sad because i love dogs but we have no right to take away their food supply. these are poor rural people. what are they going to eat? rats?

i only ask that they take out their food more humanely. you often hear of the abuse before the slaughter... somehow abusing them makes the meat taste better lmao. total bs.

Article says some of the dogs may have been stolen pets though

discodancer77 posted...

There are 2 options

1) All animals are okay to eat
2) No animals are okay to eat

any other opinion of having animals that are okay/not okay for consumption is just hypocrisy and socialized carnism.

Option 2 is the correct one, btw

How can you tell if someone is vegan?

dont worry, theyll make sure you know.

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Eh, not much different from eating any other mammals we commonly eat over here. The lines people draw here are pretty arbitrary. I respect anybody that just acknowledges they just like dogs but don't give a fuck about animals in general, and there's no deeper principle though. If it's stolen pets, sure, just like it'd be fucked up to steal and eat somebody's pet pig.

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Jabodie posted...

Eh, not much different from eating any other mammals we commonly eat over here. The lines people draw here are pretty arbitrary. I respect anybody that just acknowledges they just like dogs but don't give a fuck about animals in general, and there's no deeper principle though. If it's stolen pets, sure, just like it'd be fucked up to steal and eat somebody's pet pig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZBAtd9rty8

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I don't really get why people freak out over farmed dogs. Most of the animals we eat are similarly intelligent even if they haven't been bread to be emotionally in-tune with us. If anything, the real reason to complain is likely because it seems like a waste of resources. I cannot image you get that much good meat off of a dog in comparison to any other animal that had been bred for the purpose of slaughter.

discodancer77 posted...

There are 2 options

1) All animals are okay to eat
2) No animals are okay to eat

any other opinion of having animals that are okay/not okay for consumption is just hypocrisy and socialized carnism.

Option 2 is the correct one, btw

I don't really agree with that. As with every moral question, the only relevant question is how can we reduce suffering.
If people were to start eating bugs or something that really don't care about their living conditions as long as they have food, that'd be fine because this doesn't cause suffering. Even raising vertebrates for food would be fine if we could apply this principle of ethics at scale, but I don't believe we can

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CloneTheHero posted...

we domesticated pigs 8500 years ago so they did evolve alongside us

As livestock. Not companions. You left out the important part.

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Wild pigs are aggressive. The pigs we eat are docile. They are domesticated. You think a wild cow is just going to let you tip them?
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Horse meat is pretty tasty, never tried dog meat.

One animals life doesnt hold any more value than the other.

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LostForest posted...

As livestock. Not companions. You left out the important part.

That's not actually important though. It's not like there's a shortage of dogs and you're wasting a limited resource when you use them as food.

What they were domesticated "for" isn't actually morally relevant here.

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@Shablagoo , are you gonna act like China doesn't have factory farming?

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Nemu posted...

I don't really get why people freak out over farmed dogs. Most of the animals we eat are similarly intelligent even if they haven't been bred to be emotionally in-tune with us. If anything, the real reason to complain is likely because it seems like a waste of resources. I cannot image you get that much good meat off of a dog in comparison to any other animal that had been bred for the purpose of slaughter.

Likely less than half of dogs and cats in China killed for their meat were actually raised on a farm. Most were either stolen from their home or strays picked up off the street. The problem with the former is obvious. The problem with the latter is how many biotoxins the stray animal accumulated from eating anything it can find and for how long, stuff normally regulated by whatever food safety organization is in China.

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I don't care about cultural relativism, just don't eat dogs, okay?

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Beveren_Rabbit posted...

Wild pigs are aggressive. The pigs we eat are docile. They are domesticated. You think a wild cow is just going to let you tip them?

You think cow tipping is real?

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Is this the thread where we all compete over how edgy we can be?

Humans are the real animals. Dogs should eat us.

Shablagoo posted...

What are your thoughts on the 30 million cows and 130 million pigs that suffer under these conditions and worse in the U.S. every year, being artificially impregnated over and over until their bodies wear out and they are finally killed too, living in terrible conditions where dead animals will just be left to lie there in the stalls, etc.? The whole world needs to take a lesson from these activists (and others like them) and start treating all these sentient beings better.

What about... You do know China purchases meat from the US and other countries. China also participates in factory farming.

Tyranthraxus posted...

"China's dog meat festival" when it's really just Yulin but okay.

Yeah that's a very disingenuous title. This is a very limited thing in China and the stereotype of Chinese people eating dogs is super harmful.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


This isn't meant as a food source for poor people - it's a festival. I see no problem with people eating anything they have access to if poor and hungry. Or if they are wild dogs/cats. But that's not the full picture here.

CloneTheHero posted...

im pretty sure domestication goes both ways. if you seriously think people in the past didnt have pet pigs youre not being honest here

Giblet_Enjoyer posted...

What they were domesticated "for" isn't actually morally relevant here.

I didn't give a commentary on morality. Someone asked "Why do we eat pigs if they're smart?"

I answered their question. It's because pigs were originally domesticated as a food source. Dogs were originally domesticated as companions.

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Shablagoo posted...

This is great news that these poor dogs were rescued and I hope this practice continues to be stamped out.

What are your thoughts on the 30 million cows and 130 million pigs that suffer under these conditions and worse in the U.S. every year, being artificially impregnated over and over until their bodies wear out and they are finally killed too, living in terrible conditions where dead animals will just be left to lie there in the stalls, etc.? The whole world needs to take a lesson from these activists (and others like them) and start treating all these sentient beings better.

the greatest difference is those dogs were raised as pets and stolen from their homes, while the pigs were raised as livestock. There is no comparison.

mustachedmystic posted...

@Shablagoo , are you gonna act like China doesn't have factory farming?

Already did.

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dogs and humans evolved together. Humans and pigs or cows did not.

https://www.livescience.com/31997-dogs-and-humans-evolved-together.html

/topic

matchboxsantana posted...

dogs and humans evolved together. Humans and pigs or cows did not.

https://www.livescience.com/31997-dogs-and-humans-evolved-together.html

/topic

This has already been said and doesn't have the moral relevance you think it does.
<topic>

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So like, for the people complaining about pigs being eaten. Instead of arguing "Why do you care if China eats dogs? America eats pigs." why not argue "Maybe we shouldn't be eating dogs OR pigs."

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Giblet_Enjoyer posted...

doesn't have the moral relevance you think it does.

just because you like china? If not, explain. We're intrinsically linked to dogs.

Dogs guide the blind, dogs alert people with low blood sugar, dogs alert people who are about to get a seizure and use their own bodies as pillows. Dogs detect drugs. Dogs guard us from intruders, sometimes with their own lives. If you think they're the same as eating a rat or something, lol.

The dog saviors were later destroyed

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matchboxsantana posted...

just because you like china? If not, explain. We're intrinsically linked to dogs.

Dogs guide the blind, dogs alert people with low blood sugar, dogs alert people who are about to get a seizure and use their own bodies as pillows. Dogs detect drugs. Dogs guard us from intruders, sometimes with their own lives. If you think they're the same as eating a rat or something, lol.

None of these dogs that are being eaten do any of those things unless they're stolen pets, but that's a separate issue.


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matchboxsantana posted...

Shablagoo posted...

This is great news that these poor dogs were rescued and I hope this practice continues to be stamped out.

What are your thoughts on the 30 million cows and 130 million pigs that suffer under these conditions and worse in the U.S. every year, being artificially impregnated over and over until their bodies wear out and they are finally killed too, living in terrible conditions where dead animals will just be left to lie there in the stalls, etc.? The whole world needs to take a lesson from these activists (and others like them) and start treating all these sentient beings better.

the greatest difference is those dogs were raised as pets and stolen from their homes, while the pigs were raised as livestock. There is no comparison.

I mean, if some country said they'd start breeding dogs for food as livestock, I'd guess you'd still have an issue with it. In this case, there might not be a comparison, but it isn't the real reason you're against it.

LostForest posted...

So like, for the people complaining about pigs being eaten. Instead of arguing "Why do you care if China eats dogs? America eats pigs." why not argue "Maybe we shouldn't be eating dogs OR pigs"

Agreed, we shouldn't
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matchboxsantana posted...

If not, explain. We're intrinsically linked to dogs.

Our evolutionary partnership only gives dogs an exemption from our exploitation and mistreatment if you look at animals through the perspective that their lives have value only to the extent that humans can benefit from them. With that mindset, dogs are supremely special because they "earned" it by lucking into a partnership that no other animal ever has or likely ever will.

The problem with that is that many other species have similar capacity to dogs (or greater) to experience contentment, excitement, joy, affection, fear, pain, loneliness, and loss, among other things. They're sentient beings with a desire to live and enjoy life, and you think it's okay to forcefully breed, confine, mutilate, torture, and/or prematurely kill them by the trillions simply because they were born the wrong species. That's pretty out there.

And, for what it's worth, even dogs aren't spared being treated like shit and neglected by humans. There are tens of millions of homeless dogs in the USA alone. They're either left to fend for themselves in the wild or on the streets where they go hungry, spread disease, disrupt local ecosystems, pose a threat to humans, and are at risk of being killed by cars or wild predators, or they languish in concrete and metal until they're euthanized because nobody wants them even though they're bred specifically for their evolutionary BFFs. Kinda weird how that vaunted relationship doesn't keep dogs themselves from being treated like shit but also justifies treating every other animal on the planet like shit.

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