SHIYAN Subdistrict in Bao an District planned to legalize the slaughter of cats and dogs for meat because it is a tradition to eat dogs and cats in the area, yesterday s Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
The subdistrict office also planned to apply for provincial intangible cultural heritage listing for dog cuisine and it would be their duty to promote the legalization of slaughtering cats and dogs to put safe meat on the table, an unidentified official from the subdistrict office said.
This will be a very difficult task for us, but it would also be unreasonable to shut down the slaughterhouses. People here have eaten dog meat in winter for hundreds of years, he said.
The subdistrict office also said it would be difficult to punish the unlicensed slaughterhouse where netizens saved 34 cats and dogs on Christmas Eve because there was no law against slaughtering cats and dogs for meat. But one thing sure is that this slaughterhouse, like many unlicensed cat and dog slaughterhouses, is illegal, so we will have it demolished, he said.
All the dogs were brought from northern China and I don t see what is wrong with selling and killing dogs for food because it is a tradition in China, the owner of the slaughterhouse, who was not identified, told the Daily Sunshine. I am also against activities such as stealing and poisoning dogs for meat. If we did that, this slaughterhouse would have been demolished already because locals would not approve, the owner said.
The owner claimed the dogs and cats had quarantine certificates. If we did not have the certificates, they would have been taken away by authorities during transportation, he said.
China planned to draft a law to regulate eating dog and cat meat to prevent animals from being mistreated. Some experts proposed a draft law in January, saying eating, selling and killing cats and dogs for meat was prohibited.
The draft law sparked heated debate among the public. Because China has a custom of eating cats and dogs, it will be very difficult to ban it immediately, so detailed policies will be left to local governments to decide, Chang Jiwen, one of the experts, said. (Wang Yuanyuan)
