(CN) Eclectic eating habits may be tough to change

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South China Morning Post

PEARL BRIEFING

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by He Huifeng

Feb 13, 2010

 

Mainland pet lovers had their hopes raised last month when a ban on the

eating of dogs and cats was included in a new draft anti-cruelty law.

 

A month later, old streets in the Pearl River Delta are still full of busy

restaurants serving dog meat dishes - known locally as " fragrant meat " for

hundreds of years.

 

At night, restaurants with signs offering " fragrant meat " can be seen in

almost every city in Guangdong. The meat - mostly from Chinese dogs and

other big breeds - is served stewed, roasted or, in winter, sliced in a hot

pot.

 

It is much more expensive than pork or beef, selling for about 50 yuan

(HK$56.85) a kilogram in Shenzhen.

 

Most customers are men in their 40s and 50s, who also like to drink Chinese

white spirits while tucking into a dog meat hot pot. When asked, they say

dog meat helps warm you up on cold days.

 

Cat is less popular, with its consumption having become taboo for many young

people in Guangdong. However, older people still eat cat soup sometimes.

They call the dish - a stew of cat and snake with assorted spices - " dragon

duels with tiger " .

 

Besides dog and cat meat, Guangdong people also have a well-known taste for

wildlife, mostly as medicinal tonics - believing that stewed turtle cures

cancer; crocodile meat relieves asthma; pangolin scales regulate

menstruation and scorpion venom helps stroke victims.

 

Animal markets in the province teem with snakes, scorpions, civet cats and

dozens of different species of birds and turtles, some of which are

endangered and all of which are fated to end their lives in restaurants,

pharmacies or pet cages.

 

The habit has been challenged on the mainland in the past, especially after

2003 when the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak spread from

Guangdong.

 

Many blamed Guangdong's eclectic eating habits for causing the spread of

Sars, linking the infection in people with coronavirus in civet cats.

 

In 2004, Guangdong's health authorities started to ban the sale of civet

cats and other wild animals at local restaurants.

 

Those violating the ban were threatened with fines of between 1,000 and

50,000 yuan, the loss of business licences or criminal prosecution.

 

Citizens who reported illegal sales of civet cats to health authorities were

offered 200 yuan rewards.

 

But dogs and cats are still on menus. Ten million dogs and four million cats

are sold on the mainland for human consumption every year, according to a

survey carried out in 2006 by the Animals Asia Foundation.

 

Only the rise of Guangdong's middle class can alter the picture, with a new

enthusiasm for pets seeing yuppie owners pampering dogs in grooming salons

rather than putting them in cooking pots.

 

Their growing campaign against the consumption of cat and dog meat has

gained mainlanders' attention.

 

They protest in front of restaurants, they buy and adopt dogs and cats from

wet markets and they distribute publicity criticising the eating of dogs and

cats as inhumane.

 

On January 26, their efforts paid off when Beijing launched its first draft

proposal to protect the country's animals from maltreatment, including a

measure that would jail people who eat dog for up to 15 days.

 

Judging from the critical response the draft is generating online and in the

print media, the law will not be an easy one to pass.

 

Wu Jiang , a commentator in the Guangzhou-based Information Times, picked

apart the rules in an article titled " Eating dog meat is no crueller than

eating pork " .

 

" Even if this might be the eating habits of most people, forcing it onto the

people remaining is nothing less than the tyranny of the majority ... In

short, pigs are no more wretched than dogs, and cows are no less worthy than

cats, " Wu said. " If eating animals like cats and dogs is cruel, then the

Anti-Animal Cruelty Law is itself cruel in its injustice. "

 

At the Jiayuan Dog Meat Restaurant in Shenzhen, where dog meat is a staple,

one customer seemed philosophical about the prospect of a ban.

 

He said: " I think there's a 50:50 chance of this law being passed. It

depends on the attitude of local governments. "

 

Pei county in Jiangsu has a very prosperous dog meat industry, which exports

to 17 countries including Russia, Japan and Korea, employs approximately

100,000 people and has annual sales of nearly one billion yuan.

 

" If the Anti-Animal Cruelty Law really is implemented, it will undoubtedly

have an enormous impact on the local economy, " Pei County Meat Dog Breeding

Association president Fan Xiantao said.

 

Last year, Peixian dog meat in Pei county and Huajiang dog meat of Huajiang

town in Guizhou were recognised by local governments as part of their

respective provinces' intangible cultural heritage.