China's annual dog-meat fair opens; activists hope for last time

So we have the potential for a new strain virus outbreak occurring, this time from Yulan?

The festival should be closed down immediately.

The festival should be closed down immediately.

Who are we in the west to tell anyone to do anything, with our own factory farming, and pumping animals full of antibiotics and steroids before slaughtering them en masse? The bird flue has come out of American farms - were all American chicken farms immediately closed?

Sounds really appetizing....

The last paragraph I found interesting. I guess it will be hard because of the strength of the customer base, i.e. those with money who think dog meat confers virility.

*Zhang Qianqian, an animal rights activist who was in Yulin on Saturday, said it was only a matter of time before the dog-meat festival was banned. "From what we understand from our conversations with meat sellers, leaders have said the consumption of dog meat won't be allowed in future," she said. "But banning dog-meat consumption is going to be hard and will take some time."*

Are dogs bringing more health risk than cows or chickens ?

Should we ban rabbit meat because it rarely happen in Japan, or cow meat because India doesn't like it ?

Eppee, it depends where you stand, but from a humanitarian point of view, we should probably ban all meat eating, including dogs and rabbits and cows, but no-one really wants to go there.

Humans are omnivores, so it is only natural that we eat meat along with vegetables, fruits, grains, etc. The issue here is that dogs are widely seen throughout the world as "pets" not food. In fact throughout human history and right up to today, dogs are used to help humans hunt for other "food" creatures. So from a purely emotional perspective, and a biased one as I grew up wih dogs, the custom is disgusting and needs to end. Where are all the anti-whalers who vilify eating whales, but silent on eating dogs? Did they all have pet whales growing up or what?

Where are all the anti-whalers who vilify eating whales, but silent on eating dogs? 

I think you’ll find the vast majority of those who vilify eating whales are far from silent on the topic of the disgusting habit of torturing and eating dogs. Posting or not on JT is no barometer of a person’s thoughts and convictions.

The topic is the Yulin dog-torture festival, not the slaughter of whales and disposal of all but the ‘tasty’ bits. But just to clear things up for you, they are both disgusting, as is the treatment of factory-farmed food animals of whatever species.

(Raises hand as one who vilifies the slaughter and eating of any living creature Including whales and dolphins and especially cats and dogs.)

Eppee, it depends where you stand, but from a humanitarian point of view, we should probably ban all meat eating

Humans are omnivores. We can find ways to not eat meat and get by, but it's not what our bodies are expecting and made for, nor is it natural.

And to be clear - I eat a mostly vegetable diet. But I also eat meat, and I don't feel remotely bad about it myself. Same as I don't feel back when I see a wolf eat a rabbit.

At the yulin festival, also many cats are cruelly tortured and butchered.

I know there are many cat lovers in Japan, still not a single word of disapproval, not even in informal circles.

How can that be?