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http://www.k9magazine.com/viewarticle.php?sid=14&aid=1212&vid=0&npage=
Is The End In Sight For The Chinese Dog Meat Trade?
"Calls to make Chinese restaurants dog meat free could be getting through".
China's animal welfare groups have called for end to dog eating. In
what will be an historic and bold move, Chinese animal welfare groups
have unanimously called for a ban on dog eating.
Guangzhou, 27 March, 2006-- The first China Companion Animal Symposium
took place this March in Guangzhou - the dog and cat eating capital of
Asia. This historic advancement in Chinese animal welfare also saw the
call for an outright ban on the century's old practice of dog and cat
eating.
Millions of dogs and cats are slaughtered for consumption in China
annually. Many suffer deliberate, horrific abuse in the mistaken
belief that 'torture equals taste'. A gaping hole in the law leaves
them with no protection.
The meeting brought together 32 grassroots groups from around the
country, plus international groups such as Britain's RSPCA and was
called by UK and Hong Kong charity the Animal Asia foundation.
The meeting also called for an end to the dog and cat fur trade and
the introduction of countrywide de-sexing programmes for companion
animals.
Many of the delegates spoke of the horrors they faced daily in their
fight to save and house abandoned dogs and the need for laws to
protect domestic animals from abuse and neglect.
Guest speaker Professor Song Wei, a lecturer in law at the University
of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, said,
"Abuse cases today always spark huge public outrage. There is much
more awareness of animal welfare."
Guangzhou veterinary surgeon, Dr John Wu, who runs Leader Animal
Clinic, said it was crucial to change this way of thinking, now, while
the trend of keeping pets was sweeping China's middle-class.
Jill Robinson, founder and CEO of Animals Asia said the symposium
showed that there was a groundswell of change, with community concern
for companion animals rapidly increasing and authorities becoming more
aware of the need for animal welfare. "Imagine this forum happening 10
or even five years ago - it simply wouldn't have been possible," she
said. "Caring people in China are speaking out � it's time to use
their voices for change."
USEFUL LINKS
www.animalsasia.org
--
Remember to always believe in yourself my friends. If anyone calls
you a dreamer remind them that the building they work in came from a
dreamer, the car they're driving came from a dreamer. The computer
they love, the cell phone they use, movies and music they escape in -
all came from dreamers.
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