Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Pat Chan’s letter entitled “Dog Meat Eating” dated May 2 in the SCMP. I am opposed to the arguments of Pat Chan.
First, Pat Chan writes that “Dog meat eating is a tradition of many Asian societies which should be respected.” There were thousands of traditions throughout human history. Some are good, and some are bad. The bad traditions were banned and disappeared in the world. For example, China also had a tradition that was inhumane and sexist. It was the foot-binding tradition. In about AD990, women had to use cloth to bind their feet tightly to modify the shape of their feet when they were young. It was practiced in China until the early 20th century. It was considered a status symbol as well as a mark of beauty, but it limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities for most of its subjects. Finally, this bad tradition had been banned in the early 20th Century. Dog meat eating is just the same as foot-binding. Both are cruel and inhumane. If foot-binding could be banned, why can’t dog meat eating be banned?
Moreover, Pat writes that “Dog meat has nutritional value”, so we can eat it. But, there is other meat that has nutritional value, for example, human flesh. Human flesh has high nutritional value. According to a research conducted by James Cole, an archaeologist at the University of Brighton, human body contains about 125,822 calories. It can feed a group of modern humans for a day. Human flesh can serve to 60-kilogram adults in terms of its nutritional value in protein. If everyone thinks that dog meat has high nutritional value, then I could tell the world, “Human flesh has nutritional value, let’s eat it every day!” Everyone would start to eat each other. In fact, a food item having high nutritional value does not mean that people have to eat it. Therefore, Pat’s argument does not stand.
Finally Pat thinks that so long as dogs are farmed humanely for consumption, it is acceptable to eat dogs. But there were many cases of inhumane, horrible farms that treat poultry cruelly, even worse than the dog meat eating situation. There are also battery farms that raise a large number of chickens in a very crowded condition. These acts are inhumane too! It is literally impossible to urge all farms to treat their animals humanely. So now, Pat is saying that we cannot eat any animal unless we check every single farm in the world and confirm that the animals are farmed humanely for consumption.
As for my first argument, I think that dog meat eating is inhumane and cruel. Dogs are killed in torturous and inhumane prisons of dog meat farms, where man’s best friends are raised for such purposes—- suffering, butchered, beaten to death, skinned alive and then eaten. Those poor dogs don’t even have quarantine inspection certificates to indicate they have been farmed. They are stolen urban pets, rural guard dogs and stray dogs. This act of dog meat eating is against humanity, as humans should uphold the value of speaking out for all innocent lives. Who are the owners of the innocent life? THE DOGS THAT ARE KILLED IN A TORTUROUS AND CRUEL WAY AND THEN EATEN BY US!
Moreover, dogs are not viewed only as pets. There are millions of dog owners and they love and care about their dogs. Dogs have become human’s best friends. Dogs give us comfort when we need comfort. People view dogs and cats more as pets, rather than as working animals or sources of meat. We uphold western values, like equality, respect, and liberty. Save the hope in humanity! Be part of the compassionate world! Don’t support dog meat eating.
Finally, dog meat may be contaminated by deadly disease. As most dogs are stolen urban pets, rural guard dogs and stray dogs, they are not qualified and not legally farmed for consumption. They are not sterilized and no one knows what food they eat before being eaten. Also, there is a risk of rabies in stray dogs. Rabies is incurable and it is a deadly and highly infectious disease.
In conclusion, I strongly oppose the view of Pat’s letter entitled “Dog meat eating”. Dog meat eating is cruel and inhumane and dog meat may be contaminated by deadly disease. We should also uphold rightful values. Ban dog meat eating! Support us! Stop this inhumane act!
Yours faithfully,
Ryan So