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Covid-19, cruelty and racism
The Chinese are not unique and the dog meat trade is not the only horror
Recently I read that, thanks to Covid-19, dogs are no longer classified as farm animals in China. Cue the sarcastic comments on social media as well as the racist rants against Chinese people.
I get it. My pets are family and God help the person who hurt any of them.
But while it’s important to shine awareness on cruelty in order to make change, we have to be careful not to stigmatize any particular race or culture.
In reality, very few ordinary Chinese eat dogs and cats. The majority believe it is wrong to do so.
In Chinese traditional medicine, it was believed that dog meat had health benefits, but as Buddhism spread in China, so did the belief that it was wrong to kill dogs.
However, during China’s Great Famine, which was caused by Mao’s Great Leap Forward, starving peasants ate anything they could find. Western experts estimate that between 20–40 million Chinese starved — between 3–6% of the population. This led to more widespread dog consumption in the years that followed.
Nowadays, however, the majority of mainland Chinese believe it is wrong to eat dogs and cats and in Taiwan, it has been illegal since 2017. There…
