(Au) Pup saved from becoming dinner (dog eating in Australia)

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Pup saved from becoming dinner

By Michelle Pountney

Herald Sun

Melbourne, Australia

October 10, 2002

 

OCCY, a staffordshire terrier pup, was destined for someone's dinner plate.

But a suspicious dog lover saved him from the pot when she questioned a man

carrying a dog in a plastic bag.

 

Nine-week-old Occy was tied up inside with a plastic bag around his neck --

a day after vanishing from his owner's back yard.

 

Occy's brush with death could prompt new laws to ban the consumption of dog

and cat meat in Victoria, a practice that is not illegal.

 

The law allows an individual to slaughter an animal for his or her own

consumption provided they do not sell or give away the meat.

 

RSPCA president Hugh Wirth has been trying to have the loophole closed for

some time.

 

He said he had been stalled by the Government claiming cultural

sensitivities, a statement Agriculture Minister Keith Hamilton repeated

yesterday.

 

" We live in a multicultural society. We have to respect cultural practices

from other groups of people and that was, I think, the extent of the

conversation (with Dr Wirth), " Mr Hamilton told radio 3AW.

 

But after Occy's story became known Mr Hamilton vowed to act.

 

" This sort of practice is not acceptable to the Government or I would think

the great majority of Victorian people, " he said minutes later.

 

" We will . . . look at ways in which we can legislate to make sure that this

practice is not acceptable in Victoria. "

 

Sales assistant Rebecca Sliva noticed a man carrying a dog in a plastic bag

in Niddrie's Wallis Mall last week and asked to see the dog. He did not

understand her questions and Ms Sliva asked a worker from a nearby

restaurant to translate.

 

Both were shocked when the man acted aggressively toward the pup and

indicated he planned to eat it.

 

Ms Sliva took Occy from the man after he tried to sell the pup to her.

 

The man did not resist.

 

Occy was taken to a local vet, where he was treated and a new home found for

him.

 

On Monday, after a vet nurse saw a lost dog notice in the area, Occy was

returned to owners Erin Marquis and Shannon Richter -- six days after he

vanished.

 

Ms Marquis had pinned up lost dog posters, door-knocked the area, rung

pounds and walked the streets looking for Occy after he disappeared.

 

" I think I had most of Niddrie looking for him, " she said.

 

But Occy's ordeal has shocked her: " Pups go missing all the time . . . I was

thinking very measuredly about it, trying to think he was at a nice home,

but imagine if we had not found him what would have happened. "

 

Mr Richter, too, had difficulty believing what Occy's fate could have been:

" I didn't believe it -- it doesn't seem real. "

 

Welfare groups working to have the sale of dog and cat meat banned in Asia

were shocked the practice had appeared in Melbourne.

 

" We are very disturbed in hearing that this practice is going on in

Victoria, " said Dogaid Australia president Laura Teresa.

 

End

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Eating dogs 'abhorrent'

Victoria, Australia

October 09, 2002

 

LAWS covering the human consumption of dogs and cats will be tightened by

the Victorian Government.

 

Agriculture Minister Keith Hamilton said the Government would work with the

RSPCA on the issue, which arose after a puppy was reportedly rescued before

becoming part of the menu of a Melbourne household.

 

" We, like most Victorians, view the practice as abhorrent, " he said.

 

" Thankfully, there is no evidence to date to show eating dogs and cats is at

all common in Victoria. "

 

A suburban newspaper has reported a dog was rescued from being killed and

eaten in Niddrie, when passers-by stopped a man carrying a puppy in a

plastic bag.

 

When asked what he was doing, he gestured that he intended to eat the

animal.

 

The horrified passers-by then took the puppy from him.

 

The human consumption of man's best friends is not illegal in Victoria,

although the slaughter and sale or inhuman treatment of cats and dogs is

banned.

 

The law allows an individual to slaughter an animal for his or her own

consumption so long as they do not sell or give away the meat.

 

This allows farmers to slaughter cattle or sheep, or an angler or hunter to

use their catch, for family consumption.

 

Although the Government now says it will work with the RSPCA to improve

legislation, RSPCA Australian and Victorian President Dr Hugh Wirth said he

has struggled for years to get a total ban imposed.

 

" I am very disappointed and quite upset that various ministers in the

government have not taken the RSPCA submission on this matter seriously, " he

told AAP.

 

" The dog was the first animal domesticated by humans and has a very special

relationship with us because of that, a place unequalled by any other

animal. "

 

Dr Wirth said the RSPCA would be happy with nothing less than a total ban on

eating dogs and cats.

 

In parts of Asia, particularly in Korea, dogs can be farmed for human

consumption.

 

The agonising deaths associated with human consumption of dogs stems from a

belief that the stress hormones released when the animal is tortured or

killed slowly makes the meat more tender to eat, according to the animal

protection foundation Animals Asia.

 

AAP