Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my opinion about dog-eating which is referring to your article you have posted in the SCMP recently. In my view, as dog-eating have become very popular for a few years, it means that many dogs are sacrificed. I agree that dog-eating should be banned.
First and foremost, eating dogs may cause rabies. In the Philippines, approximately 10,000 dogs and 300 people are killed by rabies each year. Workers can easily be infected with rabies during slaughter and spread the disease to other dogs and humans alike. Saliva from an infected animal can also transmit rabies if the saliva comes into contact with the eyes, mouth or nose. Dogs are the most common animal involved. If human contacts an infected dog, he will get rabies too. It is too easy to be infected. We can see that the consequences after eating dogs are serious. However, we do not know which dogs get rabies and which do not. In my opinion, if dog-eating is banned, everyone can avoid getting rabies.
A few people may argue that if dog-eating should be banned, pig-eating and cow-eating should also be banned as well because all animals should be treated equally. However, I cannot agree with this. The key is actually based on the relationship between the person and the animal, but not only the type of animal. Many people keep pets like dogs, but not cows and pigs. As time flies, their relationship changes from master and pet to friends. The main point is that dogs are regarded as human’s friends. When people treat dogs as friends, they will not treat it cruelly as if everyone will not hit or kill their friends. Seeing other dogs are being eaten, people will treat them as their own friends too because they are both dogs. It is same for other animals too. I think that only people who treat pigs or cows as friends have the right to argue whether pig-eating or cow-eating should be banned. As people treat dogs as their friends, they do not want their friends be eaten. On the other hand, if people eat some animals that most people will not make friends with them, like frogs, people will not care about it. Therefore, banning dog-eating is a must.
Last but not least, dogs help human very much. For example, guide dogs help the blind people to lead the way. As blind people cannot see anything, guide dogs are their most reliable partner. Without guide dogs, blind people may feel scared when he goes out. Also, police dogs help policemen to subdue thieves when policemen are fighting with thieves. If people keep eating dogs, it reduces the number of dogs which may become guide dogs or police dogs. Then, less blind people can own a guide dog and less policemen can own a police dog. From this, it can be seen that dogs are important to people.
In conclusion, as dogs may get rabies, shouldn’t we eat them? As dogs are human’s friends, shouldn’t we eat them? As dogs are helpful, shouldn’t we eat them? If dog-eating is banned, dogs can serve more people. If dog-eating is banned, our friends can stay alive. If dog-eating is banned, we can reduce the chance of getting rabies. As a result, I think that dog-eating should be banned.
Yours faithfully,
Mandy Lam