IOC mum on China's dogs

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Article published in Toronto Sun Friday, March 23, 2001

IOC mum on China's dogs Tortured until tasty: Activists

By BRAD HONYWILL AND PHILIP LEE-SHANOK,

TORONTO SUN

 

The International Olympic Committee won't take an official position on

China's treatment of St. Bernard dogs but it will likely affect voting for

the 2008 Games, says an IOC official.

The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says a

state-run farm in Datong, China -- west of Beijing -- breeds the big,

beloved dog for food. PETA says the dogs are valued because they grow large

very fast and their meat is lean. What's more, they say butchers are

deliberately torturing the animals to stimulate adrenaline production,

believed to make the meat tastier and add an aphrodisiac affect.

 

'SENSITIVE ANIMALS'

" Dogs are sensitive animals that suffer greatly in food production, " Cem

Akin of PETA said yesterday.

" Unfortunately there are those who believe eating tortured dogs somehow

improves virility and health. " Opponents are calling on the IOC to vote

against awarding the 2008 Games to Beijing, Toronto's major competitor.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the IOC at its headquarters in Switzerland --

home of the St. Bernard -- said the organization is not considering

political issues in its technical evaluation of cities. But, she said, there

is nothing to stop members from considering such issues when they sit down

to vote on July 13.

 

SHORT-LISTED CITIES

" At the end of the day, every member will vote as a person who has opinions

and emotions and they will vote the way they want to vote, " the spokesman

said. Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC technical evaluation commission

touring the five short-listed cities, made it clear when in Toronto last

week that his team will only consider a city's ability to host the Games.

Human rights issues such as China's presence in Tibet and the treatment of

members of the Falun Gong sect, for example, are not a consideration. Joel

Chipkar, a Toronto-based practitioner of Falun Gong, says the Olympics

should not be awarded to a country that is persecuting millions of its own

citizens.