There are many cultural practices today that society is in a sort of limbo about. These practices, although they may be considered cultural and sacred by some, are in reality extremely cruel and outdated to the rest of the outside world. The problem with efforts of outsiders trying to eradicate these cultural practices like child brides, bullfighting, the way women are treated in many countries, and dog meat farming and consumption, is that these practices are considered ‘sacred traditions’ and it is almost impossible for outsiders to gain any leverage. Dog meat farms and the consumption of dog meat claims to be a ‘tradition’ but in reality is a recent trade in many countries that causes more problems and harm then it does good. The dogs are born into darkness, crammed into cages unable to move and buried in their own excrement. They live out the extent of their short lives with metal wire underfoot, many of them not even seeing the light of day or seeing or feeling grass or feeling the touch of a human hand or a kind word. The whines and barking coming from the farms can be heard from miles away, the dogs begging to be given a chance at life, a chance at survival. These dogs are not vicious, mean or deserving of any of this. They are just victims of the cruel trade, and when the lucky ones are rescued by activists they are just as loving and happy as house hold pets, if not more.  The reality of dog meat farms and breeding, torturing, and killing dogs for food is a tradition built on lies and cruelty that needs to be stopped, there is no justification or reason this cruelty should continue, and it is evident that action from the government is necessary. 

The countries mostly responsible for the mistreatment, abuse and slaughter of man’s best friend are South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and more countries across all of Asia. In South Korea alone there are somewhere between 1.5 million and 2.5 million dogs eaten a year. The country even hosts a Yulin Dog meat festival annually. Although the trade has become less popular due to the younger generation and their adopting dogs more as pets instead of food, the reality of the trade is something that needs attention from the rest of the world. A restaurant in central Guangshou, China serves a lengthy list of dog meat specialties including dog soup, dog steak, dog tofu, and more. The locals and supporters of the trade claim that dog meat is good for health and metabolism and somehow helps with the summer heat by making the body produce more sweat. But this is just folk lure told by the old natives to tourists and younger generations, which has been proven not to have any scientific verification whatsoever.  Cats as well as dogs are subject to this cruel tradition. The consumption of dog and cat is not the majority of the problem, it’s the treatment of the animals before slaughter. The dogs are bred and raised in crammed cages full of other dogs, feces, and diseases. The dogs are bred for the sole purpose of consumption, so many locals create this misled notion that they aren’t the same as domesticated dogs, which is by no means true. The farms are scattered throughout the country side, and bring in a revenue of over $200 million worth of US dollars. Dogs born into the trade are not the only one’s subject to this fate. Pets are stolen out of yards, while some people grow tired of their pets and let them loose in the streets where they are picked up by dog meat farmers. 

South Korea’s government, like many countries, is extremely ambiguous on its stance concerning dog meat trade and the legality surrounding it. It is basically interpreted as there is no explicit law describing anything related to dog meat. There is not even recognition of dog meat being consumed at all or the health factors surrounding it. In 2007 came South Korea’s Animal Protection Amendment Act which outlined and banned the cruel handling and slaughtering of dogs involved in the trade, but with the act brought no change. There is nothing being done to enforce the law, and dog meat is still being seen on menus throughout the country. There are around 6,500 restaurants registered to serve dog meat soup, but an estimated over 20,000 restaurants are serving dog as well, showing us that most of the restaurants involved with the trade are not doing it legally. Not only are living conditions unbearably terrible, there is a traditional belief that high amounts of adrenaline make for a more tender meat. So the slaughters are often not quick and painless, but are done by bludgeoning, hanging, or electrocution. These slaughters are often done in public, on streets and at festivals and markets, where pedestrians and shoppers see dog’s necks breaking and their helpless cries being ended by electrocution. 

In the Philippines the trade is concentrated mostly in Baguio, and the northern Luzon Island. Dog meat farms aren’t as prevalent, but the same inhumane practices are done on stray dogs picked up off the side of the road. After being picked up they are shipped without food or water for long periods of time with rusty, steel cans forced over their mouths and their paws tied in limb breaking ways behind their backs. Many of these dogs have collars still on them, and were once people’s pets. Along the way, as many as 90% of the dogs may die. This is not a problem for the dog meat farmers, because the dogs are just as good to them alive as they are dead, and the dogs that survived, as well as the ones that are not are all processed together. After arriving at their destination, the dogs are clubbed to enhance the adrenaline factor, their throats are cut, their fur burned off and their bodies carelessly dismembered. 

Not only is the practice cruel and inhumane, but there are numerous health violations and risks that eating dogs have on humans. Eating dog puts people at risk for deadly parasites like E. Coli and salmonella, with various other bacterial infections. Dog meat is known to spread rabies, which is a problem for countries that don’t have access to proper rabies controlling drugs. Rabies is transferred easily from dog to dog in the dog meat farm industry because of close quarters and lack of medical attention. Rabies is transferred during raising, slaughtering, and ultimately consumption of the dogs. The World Health Organization is promoting mass rabies vaccination for dogs, but this will not be possible without the eradication of consuming dog meat and dog meat farms. Often times when the dogs in dog meat farms are given medical attention, the quick and easy fix is to give them high doses of antibiotics as a means of preventing the disease from spreading. But when humans then eat a dog that has been given these high doses of antibiotics, the human body will then become immune to the effects of antibiotics which could lead to serious health issues. Recently there have been several outbreaks of cholera, which is a sometimes fatal bacterial disease affecting the small intestines, which are believed to be caused by the consumption of dog meat, and food prepared and served along side of it. It is obvious that dog meat festers many health risks and violations along with the intense cruelty and mistreatment. A source from the Humane Society International/UK said “There is no truth to the statement that eating dog meat is healthy, this is a complete fallacy. In fact, far from being a ‘superfood', there is evidence spanning decades of the significant human health risk posed by slaughtering and eating dogs, with warnings issued by the World Health Organization of links between the practice and outbreaks of rabies and cholera in other countries.” The claims that dog meat is good for you, holds no scientific proof. All the science proves is that dog meat is unhealthy and is not meant for human consumption.

The legality of dog meat farms and serving and consumption of dog meat is perhaps the only real way that progress can be made in stopping the field all together. The problem with this is that many countries have made the trade illegal in order to subdue the political outcries from the rest of the world about the cruelty and mistreatment, but then do nothing to reinforce the laws they put into place. In India for example, there are laws that make the practice illegal, but that does not stop the country from having 30,000 stray and stolen dogs sold in markets and then beaten to death with wood clubs in the streets. During the transport, the helpless dogs are packed into sacks, their mouth stitched closed or tied dangerously tight, and are smuggled into neighboring states. The Chinese government has indicated a willingness to take dog meat off of their menus, but this was only because of the Beijing Olympics and they knew the spotlight would be on them, and the cruelty of the trade exposed. Officials decided that it would be best to ban serving dog meat temporarily in restaurants during the Olympics, perhaps because they knew the response that seeing “dog” on a menu would not be a happy one from tourists. There is a legislation processing slowly through the Chinese government that proposes the ban of serving dog and cat, but it could take up to a decade to pass because of lack of push from the citizens and the rest of the world. This trade and ‘tradition’ is undeniably cruel and unnecessary, and it is not a coincidence that it is still legal in countries that are underdeveloped and are still involved with things like child brides and feet binding. 

North Korea is not a country that the rest of the world knows much about, other then the dictatorship it is under is cruel and unforgiving, so there’s no surprise that they are also involved with eating dog. “Dangogi” is the name for the sweet meat in Korean, and is known for having more vitamins than other meats and medical benefits for the stomach and intestines. Again, these statements that dog has more health benefits then other meat has absolutely no science behind it. Dog meat is also being praised as the saving grace to the starving masses of the country. Famine has been a cruel reality of North Korea due to floods and drought’s and economic management failing. The countries controlled media has condoned the use of dog meat and the meat has been featured on various cooking shows, and a dog meat restaurant has recently opened in the capital. Across the border in South Korea is one of the countries most responsible for the abuse and consumption of dog. South Korea holds a Bok Nal Days festival where millions of dogs are slaughtered and made into soup that “cools the body”, but because their notoriously communist neighbors have condoned dog meat as a superfood a change for South Korea might be in the near future. 

In America, billions of animals are killed each year for food. Animals such as cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, etc. are born on farms for the sole purpose to be raised and then killed for food, just like the dogs in dog meat farms. So what gives people the right to protest eating dog and label it as cruel and unusual, while they support a similar system daily. Perhaps it’s because dogs are considered to be more personal then farm animals and are often kept as pets, or maybe it’s because people think dogs have a higher intelligence or awareness. Many justify the trade by saying that there are too many stray dogs and it is an easy solution to the lack of access to food, specifically meat. Having stray dogs running around spreading diseases and the lack of food can easily be solved by just eating the dogs, right? The solution is not that simple. Although the trade is justified as a tradition by some, and others present dog as just another meat, this is not the case. Dogs are historically known to be domestic animals, and were among the first species to be accepted into human society and eventually became a part of our culture. Humans breed dogs not only for sport and certain purposes, but for companionship. In today’s day and age especially in western culture, having a dog is one of the many joys in life and owning one comes with never ending unconditional love, and someone there to always be happy when you come home. For anyone that has ever had the privilege of owning a dog, they become more then a pet, they become a trusted friend and part of your family. That is the distinct difference between chickens or cows, and dogs. Dogs have the abilities to make personal connections, and are known to be incredibly loyal and intelligent. They have the ability to save lives by being service dogs and giving eyes to those who can’t see, and serving police and military personnel and protecting and serving their countries. All of this taken into consideration, the lack of respect, dignity, or a chance at a life that all dogs deserve when they are born into a dog meat farm is enough for anyone to lose their faith in humanity.

There is, and always will be, a fine line between the cultural aspect of dog meat farming, and outsider’s view on the topic. Although there are points that are valid and can in some way condone and validate the consumption of dog, they by no means negate the reality of the cruelty and mistreatment that the trade is involved in. Not only is the consumption alone cruel and unusual, but the way the dogs are handled and live their lives up until that final day where they are tortured, killed, and eaten, is more then enough to tug at anyone’s heart strings. Nearly everyone has had enough experience with dogs to know that they are capable of nearly the same amount of love and emotions that we as humans experience, which is reason enough to have this trade stopped in its tracks before another dog is born just to face the same certain fate of being eaten by humans. The only way that the elimination of torturing and eating of dog is truly possible is through the implementation of laws that make dog meat farms and everything surrounding the trade illegal. Not only do laws need to be put into place, but they need to be heavily reinforced by the government. This can only be achieved by pressure that other countries and activists place on these governments to see the change that is needed. Dogs have earned themselves a reputation of being affectionately called man’s best friend, and don’t deserve the cruel treatment they receive. Hopefully, with the activists and awareness of the subject and the rising of the millennia’s in the countries involved in the trade beginning to see dogs as more of pets then food, will come along with it the complete elimination of the trade built on lies and the suffering and cruelty it entails. 