Comment

Roast dog can be some men's best friend

By Natalie Tsao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-08 10:37

I heard on recent website buzz that there is now a nationwide draft law to ban the eating of dogs and cats and the sale of their meat, which suggests violators to be detained for 15 days.

This puzzles me because as far as I know, these animals are nowhere near extinction - especially with the one million pet poodles in the capital barking so deliciously all night long.

In my mind, any rule to ban the eating of cats and dogs is both ridiculous and wrong and I am going to explain why.

Let's first look at the possibility that this draft has come about because these animals can be our pets.

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Those draftsmen seem to have forgotten that dogs and cats are not our only pets. I have two gold fish and while I don't have to try hard not to eat them, I never refuse their larger brothers and sisters and I certainly never feel guilty - do you?

International media points out that it has become a trend in the West to start keeping a type of mini-pig as a pet, and that they are super clever and not at all smelly and very, very cute. Does this then mean that we are no longer allowed to eat pork?

Can you imagine the scene as the authorities scrambles to erect hundreds of thousands of jails to imprison the entire population because they can't give up Chairman Mao's favourite, hongshaorou?

It also might be that this draft was made because dogs and cats look cute.

Personally I have always adored rabbits and chicks, and ducklings are just as lovely. But treating living creatures by their looks alone doesn't seem very fair - what about the ugly duckling? Will we roast her just because she's different?

And as far as cats and dogs go, their owners definitely have different ideas of beauty. There might be a thousand different breeds of dog in the city now and many are horrendously ugly, but that should not be a factor for which canine gets put in the Sunday pot. Eat one, eat all - I say.

It's far more likely that the draft comes from only a few people who are trying very hard to cater to Western tastes - if you'll excuse the pun.

They probably believe we will become more civilized by doing so.

They forget however that eating dogs has never been a problem for us Chinese before, and we have done it for thousands of years. Koreans are also known for eating dogs.

In short, I personally don't eat canines or felines, but I don't force my view on others - it must be a personal choice.

China is full of vegetarians and avid meat eaters, and our judgement should be on what comes out of their mouths but not what goes into it.

For now, if you really want to do something practical for these animals, pick up one of the many homeless puppies and kittens on the city's streets and give it a home.

Do try hard to love it but don't worry if you can't, they make a great hotpot.