Man-Animal Interaction: Conflict & Coexistance

[BorneanTiger]

Good news: China takes dog meat off restaurant menus in post-Covid shift

Issued on: 01/06/2020 - 18:26
Modified: 01/06/2020 - 18:26

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A dog pulls a chariot at the Olympic Green in Beijing, China, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) AP - Ng Han Guan

Text by: Jan van der Made

As part of a massive attempt to reorganise China’s food markets, the Ministry of Agriculture has published new “catalogue” with what can be on the market, and what cannot. After research showed that the Covid-19 pandemic stemmed from wet market in Wuhan, the Chinese government shut them down. The latest casualty in the struggle against the virus: dog meat.

The measures are the latest steps in China's fight against the spread Covid-19. “Gourou”, or “dog meat”, was a long time feature in Chinese restaurants. With an excess of stray dogs in the countryside, they were an easy catch. And for people not accustomed to the somewhat pungent taste of the meat, a cook would add hot spices, or serve it in a soup. But as of last week, it will no longer be easy to find the canine cut on the menu.

According to new regulations issued by the Ministry of Agriculture on 29 May, dogs are now to be classified as “pets”. “With the advance of human civilisation and public concern regarding animal protection, dogs have been categorised from 'livestock' to 'domestic animals'," reads a notice on the ministry's website.

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Vendors chop dog meat for sale at a market ahead of a dog meat festival in Yulin, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Monday, June 20, 2016. Restaurateurs in a southern Chinese town will holding an annual dog meat festival which falls on June 21, the day of summer solstice despite international criticism. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) AP - Andy Wong

“Dogs have a long history of domestication," said a ministry spokesperson during a press conference. "In the past, they were mainly used in nursing homes and hunting and grazing. Now dogs have a more diverse use, providing companionship, helping police in search and rescue missions, or as guide dogs.” While in the past, a dog would often have found itself in the wok, today they “have a closer relationship with humans”, according to the ministry, which noted that “dogs are not regarded as livestock by UN Food and Agriculture Organization” either – and even in Korea, where dog meat is part of the traditional menu, it is not on the livestock index.

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