(CN) Experts help draft anti-cruelty law

[Guest guest]

Sunday Morning Post 4th August 2002

by Victoria Button

 

Hong Kong activists and overseas academics are drafting a law which - if

adopted by the Mainland - could combat cruelty to animals associated with

the slaughter of dogs for human consumption.

 

The project is a collaboration between academics from Harvard University, a

Beijing animal welfare expert and Hong Kong-based group Animals Asia

Foundation.

 

Animals Asia founder Jill Robinson said the project was inspired by visits

to markets where dogs were slaughtered for their meat in the Mainland, South

Korea and Vietnam.

 

During a visit to a Guangzhou market this year, Ms Robinson rescued one dog

which was about to be plunged live into a cauldron of boiling water, a

procedure usually done after the dog is dead to help remove its fur.

 

Most dogs were killed by being hit on the head or having their throat slit

with a knife, which could be a " slow and agonising process " if performed

badly, she said.

 

Ms Robinson said she had seen dogs with their throats cut writhing on the

ground for minutes, struggling to breathe as they passed in and out of

consciousness.

 

Handlers restrain the dogs by gripping the neck with long metal pincers as

they are " hog-tied " - their front legs tied behind their backs with wire,

dislocating the joints - before slaughter.

 

Before they reach the markets, dogs are packed tightly into cages on trucks,

taking road journeys so long that some die on the way to market.

 

Ms Robinson said the process of drafting a potential animal welfare law for

the Mainland started last year and would take several years to complete.

 

To highlight the role of dogs as creatures useful to humans as friends,

rather than food, the group also instituted a hospital visiting programme

for dogs in six Asian countries and a drug detection programme called

" Detective Dog " in South Korea.