Dog Meat Trade

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) on securing today’s debate. I am positive that I cannot be the only one who has received many emails over the past few days and weeks urging me to speak out on the dog trade, so I applaud his efforts in giving us the opportunity to have that discussion.

We have had a good, but brief, debate, and there has been consensus across the House on the matter. We have heard, over many years, about the appalling and barbaric nature of the dog meat trade and the importance of raising awareness if we are to succeed in doing something to deal with the situation. I am sure that the horrid examples and ghastly statistics that we have heard today will go some way towards doing that. I know that organisations such as Network For Animals, the Humane Society International and the International Fund for Animal Welfare all continue to work on tackling the dog meat trade, and that in doing so they are helped by their counterparts around the world.

It is extremely important that we recognise that the key concern is not the cultural matter of eating dog meat, but the inhumane way in which so many innocent animals are treated in its production and the serious threat to human health that the industry presents.

In China, dog meat has been eaten for thousands of years and continues to be considered socially acceptable in many parts of the country—although the majority of the people of China no longer consume dog meat. Indeed, dog meat has a particular cultural significance for some, and is thought to have cherished medicinal properties by others. That is one reason why draft animal welfare legislation proposed in 2010 with specific restrictions that would prohibit the consumption of dog meat was deemed by the burgeoning Chinese animal protection movement unlikely to be effective in curbing the meat trade in that country.

Although a number of countries have passed laws banning the production, slaughter and consumption of dog meat, a significant hurdle is posed by the often weak enforcement of the relevant laws. Countries such as the Philippines and Taiwan, for instance, have introduced animal welfare legislation that notionally bans the trading and eating of dog meat, but those laws are rarely or poorly enforced and dog meat continues to be a feature of many popular dishes.

Let us consider in more detail what is happening in the Philippines. Despite being outlawed nationally since 1998, and having been banned in Manila since 1982, the consumption of dog meat continues today. Indeed, in some northern provinces, eating dog meat is something of a long-standing cultural display, traditionally associated with celebratory events and rituals of mourning. Although, historically, the practice involved a relatively small number of animals being killed and consumed, more recent manifestations are seeing the eating of dog meat grow in popularity for commercial rather than cultural reasons. As we have heard from other hon. Members, Yulin’s annual dog meat festival in Guangxi is a relatively new “tradition”—if that is the correct term. It is a far cry from old-style festivities. Indeed, its primary aim appears to be to boost the local economy rather than to observe any underlying traditions or cultural practices.

Since its inception in the late 2000s, the June festival, which also marks the summer solstice, has been strongly opposed by international pressure groups, not to mention a majority of Chinese citizens themselves. Indeed, the Twitter #stopyulin2015 was used hundreds of thousands of times this year, yet organisers continue with the festivities despite these external and internal pressures to stop.

Estimates put the number of dogs slaughtered for people to feast on at somewhere in the region of 10,000, although precise numbers are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. It is worth noting that Animal Equality has similarly undertaken intensive investigations into slaughterhouses and the dog meat markets in the Leizhou peninsula, as well as in the rest of China’s Guangdong province. Its findings highlight that dogs sold for the meat market have often been taken from the streets or, in some cases, stolen from families by dealers supplying a black market. These animals are then confined for much of the remainder of their lives in wire cages where they suffer terribly—not only physically but psychologically too.

Animal Equality also tells us that many dogs are intentionally tortured before being killed owing to the fallacious belief that that tenderises the meat—what absolute nonsense. In these cramped cages, dogs are frequently left to go hungry, surrounded by dirt and faeces, and are subjected to extremes of temperature and a lack of water. Just as harrowing is the fact that these animals consume such a poor quality diet that they commonly become weak and susceptible to disease. Some are known to resort to cannibalism, which brings its separate concerns. I cannot be clearer that these are truly terrible conditions and the thousands of animals that perish on their journey to slaughter are testament to that. Conditions during transport are often so bad than an average of 50% of dogs die before they reach their destination. On occasion, however, as Network for Animals highlights, mortality rates rise as high as 90%. Given that many dead dogs retain profitability and are processed alongside live animals for markets and restaurants, however, such mortality rates are of little concern to the dog meat traders.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South is right to highlight the role of the dog fur and dog leather industries in driving such atrocious animal cruelty. It is estimated that 18 million dogs are killed each year for their meat or fur in China. Some 5 million dogs are eaten annually in Vietnam, where dog is the go-to dish for many special occasions, and a further 2 million are killed each year in South Korea, although that is a particularly interesting example. Although the Korea Food and Drug Administration recognises all edible products as food, other than drugs, Seoul has passed a regulation classifying dog meat as a “repugnant food”. However, as in other parts of the world, such regulatory oversight has not been effective in curbing the demand for dog meat.

That leads me to re-emphasise the health risks associated with the dog meat trade. Figures suggest that, despite the legislative measures introduced, in the region of 10,000 dogs and 350 humans still die of rabies in the Philippines each year. The consumption of such tainted meat is a proven high-risk activity that can lead to the transmission of the rabies virus to humans. There is also a growing body of evidence highlighting the significant risk that the trade, slaughter and consumption of dog meat poses to human health, as it is variously linked to outbreaks of cholera and other diseases, as well as rabies.

Over recent years in Vietnam, for instance, there have been a number of large-scale cholera outbreaks directly linked to the dog meat trade. That has led to warnings from the World Health Organisation that the movement of dogs and consumption of dog meat facilitated the spread of the bacteria that causes cholera. The organisation stated that eating dog meat was linked to a twentyfold increase in the risk of contracting the disease. The presence of the rabies virus in dogs destined for human consumption has been revealed in studies carried out in slaughterhouses and markets in China, Vietnam and Indonesia, and the risk posed by the dog meat industry to human health is very real, as reflected by the reported transmission of rabies to those involved in dog slaughter, butchery and consumption in the Philippines, China and Vietnam.

In China, for example, where authorities have declared quarantine regulations for dogs being transported, there are worrying examples of the criminals who mastermind much of the dog meat trade forging documents to transport dogs en masse to Yulin. The director of the Beijing Small Animal Veterinary Association has noted that the dogs in question are not considered farmed-for-meat animals, meaning that the meat is not properly quarantined or inspected, thereby increasing the safety risks associated with the processing and eating of dog meat.

Those instances confirm that when the trade in dogs for meat occurs, it regularly fails to comply with disease-prevention measures, and breaches the rabies control and elimination recommendations of key human and animal health advisory groups such as the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health. Furthermore, the dog meat trade has specifically been cited by the WHO as a contributing factor to recent rabies outbreaks in both China and Indonesia.

I am sure that Ministers will take account of today’s debate and consider carefully what has been said. Although the Government cannot legislate beyond our shores, I know that Ministers in the Foreign Office have previously raised concerns on the issue with the Governments of China and the Philippines, while the UK ambassador in Seoul has raised concerns with the South Korean Government.

I very much hope that the appalling conditions in which many dogs facing slaughter find themselves and the real risks that the dog meat trade poses to human health across the world will spur Ministers to use their diplomatic and other opportunities to ensure that these cruel and hazardous practices are brought to an end. Britain has long led the way on animal welfare issues, and I hope the Government will continue this by pressing counterparts around the world to collaborate in efforts to change attitudes and reduce animal suffering.