Of all animals that serve mankind, only the dog will not forsake you in bad times and THAT is the defining feature of our relationship with the canine species.
There was a New York Times article by Shaojie Huang entitled "China's Dog Meat Festival Is Again at Hand, and
Opponents Are Lining Up." The article called for action against the practice of
eating dogs. It said "A petition with more than 11 million signatures was
presented to the Chinese Embassy…”
The NY Times article stated "Thousands of dogs are slaughtered and served in
restaurants in Yulin” and says in part “eating dogs is no different from eating
cows or turkeys." The writer continues in that vein, taking a swing at U.S.
slaughterhouses wherein he says the animals are “beaten and electric prodded and
boiled alive.” Definitely animal rights rhetoric. Yes, cattle prods are
sometimes used but it is chickens that are scalded after they are beheaded and
bled so he was writing for effect more than fact.
The point he failed to make is that no American dog owner can abide the practice
of eating dogs. The Washington Post said activists gathered 11 million
signatures against the dog-meat festival in China. The Post says "'Man's best
friend should never end up on someone's dinner table." It should have stopped
there but no, it goes into animal-rights-vegan rhetoric by questioning whether
any animal be eaten.
A Canadian newspaper condemned the dog-eating festival and then pointed a finger
at Japan and Norway for eating whale meat, omitting Canadian Eskimos who also
eat seals. The Canadian writer must have forgotten when he got carried away
stating Americans “have been accused of treating cows, pigs and chickens with
almost unbelievable cruelty before killing them for food." He was probably the
one who made the accusation.
As a cat owner I probably don’t have a pig in this pot although cats are still
eaten in Asian countries where they are almost as populous as people. I could
never eat a cat or a dog but I enjoy a good steak or pork chop. My college
educated niece who was visiting me opined that people shouldn’t eat animals. I
pointed out the hypocrisy, noting she is vegan but wears leather shoes and has a
mink stole for dress-up occasions.
She said I was old-fashioned. Perhaps. That leads me to ask TheDogPress.com
readers to weigh in on this debate. I told her that humans evolved from cave-man
mentality to hunter-gatherers with bigger brains when they added meat to their
edibles. The meat protein fed the brain and so we evolved into intelligent
beings. She countered that she knows plenty of high IQ vegans but she agreed
that they eat a lot of high protein grains which cave man did not have brains
enough to know how to cook.
We both laughed and the tension was gone.
I
know dog owners to be as verbal about their love for canines as we cat people
are intellectually defensive on our feline preferences. What I’m curious about
is how many dog fanciers are vegan. If it is ok to eat beef, pork or venison,
why is it not okay to eat dog meat? Is it because dogs and cats are our dear
friends? Could we look a cow in the eye and say “My you look tasty.” No. Only
when that cow is shrink wrapped. They say pigs are more intelligent than dogs. I
love bacon with my eggs but is it okay to take away a hen’s unborn babies? I
think so because that is their place in the animal world, to provide eggs to
more evolved animals like foxes and wild cats.
The editor said to mention that some of
my information came from DawnWatch, an animal advocacy agency that should not be confused with whacko “animal rights” groups.
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There was a New York Times article by Shaojie Huang entitled "China's Dog Meat Festival Is Again at Hand, and
Opponents Are Lining Up." The article called for action against the practice of
eating dogs. It said "A petition with more than 11 million signatures was
presented to the Chinese Embassy…”
We both laughed and the tension was gone.
