Consuming dog and cat meat: the implications for tourism

To mitigate the threat of zoonotic disease (like Covid-19), the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, last week, issued a communication that dogs should no longer be considered as livestock, and not eaten. Instead proposing that dogs are reclassified as companion animals. If approved, and enacted into law, this significant policy change may not only end the dog meat trade in China but, it could well result in positive repercussions across Asia. Perhaps even further, a change in the way human society views the use of animals.

According to the animal protection NGO, FOUR PAWS, an estimated 30 million dogs and cats are killed for their meat every year in Asia, including approximately 10 million in Southeast Asia. Their extensive investigations in Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam have indicated severe animal cruelty during all aspects of the trade, the suffering of local people whose pets have been stolen for supply and the exposure of local communities, and even tourists, to dangerous zoonotic disease.

Tourism forms a significant part of the economy of their three focus countries, with the national tourist boards all seeking to significantly increase in-bound tourism. Certainly, the risk posed by the dog and cat meat trade is not yet understood by the travel industry. However, this has been considered by FOUR PAWS, noting in its report that people exposed to the trade, from capture to consumption, have contracted diseases like rabies, cholera or trichinella. Furthermore, evidencing that the trade exacerbates the ASEAN region’s inability to fulfil their rabies eradication commitment with a growing number of people, including tourists, attacked and bitten by rabid dogs.

I explained in my last Blog, and now evidenced, it is the keeping of animals (wild and domestic) in cramped, inhumane and unhygienic conditions that presents an unintentional incubator of disease. Infections spread rapidly, and where numerous animal species are kept in close quarters, particularly under poor conditions, zoonotic diseases can jump from one species to another, which may include the infection of humans. Covid-19 is a zoonotic disease.

Whilst the FOUR PAWS in-destination surveys have confirmed that few western tourists are likely to venture to intentionally eat either dog or cat, the visitation by Asian visitors to restaurants serving dog and cat meat is apparently quite frequent. Furthermore, exposure is also acknowledged to cause psychological distress amongst tourists. Reports on TripAdvisor, recount sightings of transported live dogs in cramped cages on the back of motorbikes (near Angkor Wat) in Cambodia, and whilst in Vietnam, there have been reports of live and dead cats and dogs being loaded and transported in the cargo hold of passenger buses for journeys lasting upwards of 18 hours. These sightings, and reports of sightings, are likely to deter travellers, noting 52% of British respondents to a recent poll indicating that they would not visit a country again if they were exposed to animal cruelty (ComRes 2017).

FOUR PAWS evidences that the dog and cat meat trade in Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam involves extreme levels of cruelty and suffering, and at every stage, from capture, transportation to slaughter. Exercising extreme methods that will distress you, and that fail to recognise these animals as sentients.

Throughout my career advocating and advancing the importance of applied animal welfare science, thankfully I have rarely come across people who knowingly inflict harm on animals. In most circumstances, community education and national law fail to recognise other animals as sentients (being able to experience pain, suffering and distress), and therefore, human society has often considered other animals as commodities. Encouragingly, however, opinions are changing. Farmers recognise that good animal welfare produces better yields, zoo keepers seek to enrich the physical and mental welfare to maintain healthy animals, and the growing numbers of owners of dogs, cats, and other companion animals, recognise their animals’ have needs, and even personalities. In fact, the travel industry has too acknowledged the importance of upholding high standards in animal welfare. ANIMONDIAL was established to provide travel businesses unparalleled support and impartial guidance in this regard.

In Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, FOUR PAWS reports that only a small fraction of each national population eats dog and cat meat (Cambodia (12%), Indonesia (7%) and Vietnam (6%)). Neither is it part of a regular diet, with the meat largely consumed during social gatherings, or for perceived medicinal or energy-giving qualities. Consumption was found to be across the demographics. Whilst in Vietnam, where dog and cat meat are considered a traditional cuisine, there appears to be an increasing opposition, particularly because organised criminals are stealing pets to order, or for ransom, threatening their sale into the trade. While the trade is not illegal, there are increasing numbers of authorities and officials denouncing the trade in and consumption of dog and cat meat, which could now manifest following China’s announcement. It should only be a matter of time, with a growing percentage of people in Southeast Asia keeping pets. Although how many more millions of dogs and cats need to be killed before those policy changes are recognised?

FOUR PAWS is reaching out to the international travel and tourism sector. Specifically asking for its support, acknowledging the evidenced risk to public health and animal welfare, and encouraging Southeast Asian governments to follow in China’s example and to assign the dog and cat meat trade to the history books.

FOUR PAWS is specifically asking the international travel and tourism sector to demonstrate their commitment to #ProtectMillions of dogs and cats by supporting this statement:

“As a travel business who sends tourists to Southeast Asia every year, we care not only for the welfare of the people in the destinations our customers visit, but also the welfare of the animals in those destinations. This is why we are concerned by the plight of millions of dogs and cats, many of them stolen pets, that fall victim to the brutal dog and cat meat trade each year. Working with FOUR PAWS, we want to protect dogs and cats, ensure our customers are protected from the significant human health risks, and help influence an end to the trade. We stand united to protect millions of tourists, communities, and animals from the dangers of the dog and cat meat trade in Southeast Asia.”

? Show your support and find out more

Based on extensive research, investigations and on the-ground experience, FOUR PAWS proposes and encourages a number of actions to be taken by the governments of Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam to address the dog and cat meat trade and its detriment to so many sectors of society. ?Find the full report here