A man caught on video skinning a dog in public in Shanghai has raised the ire of Chinese netizens. In the video, a Golden Retriever dog is hung by its neck on a pole while its fur is being slowly peeled off by a man wearing a jacket and hoodie.
Chinese news broadcaster Sina reported that his movements seemed fluid and practiced. When he realised he was being filmed, he pulled his hoodie down low to conceal his face. The woman who took the video, who was identified by Chinese website ChinaSmack as Ms Zhang, said the scene made her entire body tremble and prevented her from sleeping well.
Video is censored.
YouTube link.
She said that the man was very cruel and that she hoped her video would be a call for people to take care of their pets and treat them well. Further investigation by Sina revealed that the people living in the area was not familiar with the man nor the dog.
Reactions from Chinese netizens were mixed. Most said that although such behavior was not illegal, such cruelty to animals was uncalled for and that it was embarrasing for China to be portrayed in this manner. Others said that this was no different to poultry and livestock being slaughtered for food. They also said that there should not be a big fuss over it because of China's tradition of eating dogs.
There are some graphic photos at the link.
5 comments:
I'm not a "sicko" so I didn't watch the video...all I can say is I hope the dog was not alive at the time, and that if you eat butchered cows, pigs, chickens, fish or any other meat...then do you think the process is any different?
The dog appeared to be quite dead. Where's the animal cruelty? Sure, it can be argued it was cruel to humans to skin a common pet animal in broad daylight in the street, but slaughtering and skinning a dog is as much or as little animal cruelty as slaughtering and skinning a pig. I am not categorically against either, even though I have a heavy bias towards dogs for cultural reasons.
And to Anonymous, neither am I nor anyone else a "sicko" simply for choosing to watch the video (it is blurred for the benefit of those with queasy stomach). The act of skinning animals is mundane, normal. I've seen it live many times. If the very idea offends you, go vegan.
Every culture seems to have a set of animals it values as pets and another set it values as food, and conflict arises when the two sets intersect. There seem to be a lot of stories like this out of China, where dogs and cats have been traditionally seen as food (in some areas, not all over) but are becoming more common as pets, due to westernization and urbanization.
Whether it's for food or not, there was no reason for the guy to be doing this on the street.
Mind you, maybe it'll turn some people vegan once they realize what happens to the animals they eat...
as far as dog eating goes, yes it is quite common, but they're different from pet dogs in the sense that they're a specific breed that is bred for consumption on a farm, much like a cow or pig.
Post a Comment