Neighbors suspect animal rights violations at local eatery
- Source: Global Times
- [09:19 April 07 2011]
- Comments
By Wei Na
Piteous howls coming from the direction of a restaurant at Siyuanqiao, in Chaoyang district, where a protected bird is also served, have prompted residents and animal rights activists to investigate.
"For several months, I have overheard creepy barking at night, and there's no other building in that direction except for that restaurant," a local resident surnamed Duan told the Global Times Wednesday.
The restaurant is called Deyizhai No.88, resembles a factory and requires that all guests make reservations in advance.
"Most of our customers are old and frequent visitors. They come for our game meat hotpot," a Deyizhai receptionist surnamed Ying said.
"It all seems suspicious, and many customers driving fancy cars go there to eat," said Yang Yang, the founder of the Animal Protection Club, who visited on Monday.
Duan said the disembodied "abnormal, pitiful howls" have disturbed many locals.
A housekeeper for Duan's neighbor, surnamed Zhang, said that she saw lights on and heard barks at 3 am several nights in a row in March from the neighbor's balcony.
"I'm from the countryside. I know what sound dogs make when they're killed, and that sounds like it's probably it," Zhang said.
Both Ying and a man surnamed Zhang who said he works at the restaurant but would not give his job title denied that dogs are killed or dog meat is offered at Deyizhai.
However, one of their specials, a dish called "feilong pot," raises another concern.
The director of the National Bird Banding Center of China, surnamed Lu, confirmed that feilong ("flying dragon") is in fact Hazel Grouse, a State-level second-grade protected animal.
"We're guilty of nothing, because the birds are all raised in captivity," Zhang said.
But a Wildlife Management Division officer of the China State Forestry Administration said that even farm-raising feilong must be authorized by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.
According to Duan, she and her neighbors called the municipal government's complaint hotline on Monday, and are supposed to receive a response in six working days.
