The Dr John Wedderburn Interview

[Guest guest]

THIS INTERVIEW WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN VEGAN VOICE MAGAZINE, NOV, 2003.

 

Thank-you John for this interview and for coming out and supporting Ralph on the

Live Exports Issue in Australia. He appreciated it and knows of your work from

the interview. There is a copy of VV in the post for you and I am posting it

here for others to enjoy.

 

Regards, Claudette

 

IN HONG KONG WITH DR JOHN WEDDERBURN by Claudette Vaughan

 

Dr John Wedderburn is renowned in Asia. He is a medical doctor who has been

involved in animal welfare and rights for the last 15 years. He is the founder

of the Asian Animal Protection Network and also helped found EarthCare:

www.earth.org.hk and the Hong Kong Vegan Society: www.ivu.org/hkvegan/

Dr Wedderburn said at the second Asia for Animals conference in September:

“The [undercover] work of Western animal activists is much limited in Asia by

our inability to blend into the background. We desperately need local people to

undertake undercover operations in slaughterhouses, medical laboratories,

etc.â€

Dr Wedderburn himself posed as a research scientist interested in buying

beagles and macaques, and gained entry into a huge breeding establishment in

China. He also gained entry into the dog farms of China now breeding St Bernards

and experimenting with crossing different breeds to produce the “idealâ€

animal.

Claudette Vaughan met up with him in Hong Kong.

 

What got you started on the road to veganism?

 

My son introduced me to veganism in 1987. He opened my eyes to the

dreadful world that non-human animals inhabit. The more information I got, the

more I knew I had to do as much as possible to help. Based in Hong Kong, there

is so much opportunity to witness and report on animal cruelty. I am lucky I

have a job which allows me to travel a lot.

 

You were one of the first people to go undercover in China to document

abuse in the dog meat industry. What were your experiences there?

 

There are several of us who have been doing it for many years. Dog farming is

becoming big business. Scientific methods are being used to improve the

livestock to produce the ideal food dog. To get to the dog farms I posed as a

breeder of large dogs in Scotland who wished to sell stock to China. I said I

had read an article in The New York Times and was interested to see if I could

do business. Actually, I had intended to sneak in and take photos without

revealing anything – just playing the part of dumb foreigner.

I located the first farm, blustered my way past the manager with a few Mandarin

phrases and managed to get some good photos. However, the manager notified his

boss and I was “invited†to meet the boss, the city mayor, the local

Communist Party secretary, the head of the international trade bureau, the owner

of another dog farm and, to my horror, the local school teacher who spoke very

good English.

I was then given a formal tour of the same farm I had visited (in which they

didn’t show me the nasty bits I had managed to photograph before), and then we

visited the other man’s farm before going for lunch. This, paid for by the

mayor, was a huge spread of practically every animal known to humans – except,

surprisingly, dog. My veganism immediately drew suspicion and by the end of the

meal several of the group were becoming hostile.

However, the Lady Mayor continued to believe me and, as she was the

highest-ranking officer, the others couldn’t say anything. Towards the end of

the lunch I left the table and the school teacher found a pretext to look

through my bags. He then said the dog farm bosses wanted to have a private word

with me so I said OK – but the moment he was out of the room I was down the

stairs and into a taxi.

 

What are the welfare standards like in China?

 

Animal welfare in China until recently was a virtually unknown concept. But now

many small organisations are springing up. They need to unite and organise and

push for changes, and there are signs that this is happening.

 

What do you think is required to move things along?

 

Asia desperately needs more activists willing to do undercover work. What has

hampered things here has been a traditional live-and-let-live attitude. But all

it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. Evil, when

confronted, can be defeated. We must try and inspire a generation of activists

to take up this challenge.

 

You have set up the first Hong Kong vegan resource centre. How much success have

you had?

 

I started the Hong Kong Vegan Society many years ago and it has stayed alive,

but only just. I have to say that the time is not yet ripe for the spread of

vegan ideas in China. All we can do is make the information available and wait

for the ripples to spread.

 

What areas of animal abuse are you currently working on?

 

Most of my hands-on work is with dogs and cats, but I try to help in all areas

when opportunities arise. I am convinced that we shall not make significant

progress in any of the areas until more people are vegetarian. As long as they

are eating animals, they have to justify the continuing abuse of them in all

areas. The most important thing is to spread veg*nism.

 

Many talented, dynamic people attended the second Asia for Animals conference

– a positive, pro-animal phenomenon – in Hong Kong recently. How are these

conferences important?

 

Animal welfare/rights people often feel isolated – no one around them cares.

It is good for these people to get together for mutual support and exchange of

information.

 

Where do you see Asia heading, specifically China, in regard to factory-farming

practices?

 

Joining WTO has been and will continue to be disastrous for animals in China.

Prosperity is also bad for them as many Chinese were obligate vegetarians, but

with greater wealth they can consume as much meat as they want.

 

Do you predict that Western multi-corporatism will inflict upon China and other

Asian countries their profit-driven “standardsâ€, making them a financial

trade agreement that their governments won’t refuse?

 

 

There is no doubt that this is already happening. The good thing of course is

that the same force of globalisation also helps animal welfarists to unite and

organise. But things are going to get a lot worse before they start getting

better.

 

If the Western multinationals come in and offer “humane slaughtering

practices†to an economy that cannot afford it, won’t it just be a case of

the values of factory-farming Westerners inundating Asia with their madness?

I believe animal welfarists waste far too much energy on so called “humane

slaughter†and “compassionate animal farmingâ€. I believe these phrases are

contradictions in terms and hypocritical. Of course I am happy if any animal is

treated more kindly but when people can be convinced that their meat is

cruelty-free, they will eat more.

 

Is there a solution to this?

I see veganism as the only answer. People tell me that this is pie in the sky

– but if that is true then I don’t think there is a solution.

 

You have an excellent vegan email list. How do readers to it?

I have started several groups and websites, mostly locally in Hong Kong. The one

I would like your readers to to is the Asian Animal Protection

Network: www.aapn.org or aapn/

Email: john

 

 

Would you like to help Dr Wedderburn build his Hong Kong vegan resource centre?

Please send any animal rights/welfare magazines, books & t-shirts to PO Box 56,

East Brunswick VIC 3057 and we’ll send them to him for you.

 

 

 

 

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