Malaysia: Dogs were never meant for the dining table

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http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/85101

 

Dogs were never meant for the dining table

Jun 26, 08

 

We refer to media reports on how foreign workers in our country have

resorted to eating dog meat following the recent price hikes.

 

PetPositive is repulsed by this sheer act of savagery against innocent

animals. To lay blame on the rising cost of food is a foul and shameless

justification.

 

Unfortunately, every time such barbarism is reported, it brings about an

outpouring of animal activist anger but not much else.

 

There are no existing laws pertaining to the consumption of dog meat.

 

And though the Animal Act 1953 explicitly states that any person who cruelly

beats, kicks, ill-treats, tortures or terrifies any animal shall be guilty

of an offence of cruelty, such a person shall only be liable to a paltry

fine of two hundred ringgit or a measly imprisonment term of six months!

 

Therefore, substantive changes within the legislative framework need to be

formulated. Any form of cruelty to animals should be regarded as criminal

act to send a clear message that to cause such suffering is criminal.

 

One such dog-barbequing brute is quoted as saying the meat of the puppy is

'tender'.

 

But an animal's true tenderness is its companionship, its loyalty and its

innate ability to bring meaning and purpose to a human life and this no more

apparent than with the elderly and persons with disabilities.

 

There is NO excuse, be it economic or epicurean, to bludgeon a defenceless

animal to death.

 

Lest we fancy a plate of puppy paws and feline fillet dipped in squirrel

sauce, these monsters of mankind must be stopped.

 

The writer is assistant-secretary, Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the

Disabled and Elderly Association (PetPositive), Kuala Lumpur.