South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law banning the breeding, trade and slaughter of dogs for eating from 2027. In the country the practice, widespread for centuries, has however been in decline for several years and is now widespread almost only among older people. But in other areas of the world, especially in Asia, it remains relatively common today.
China is the country where the most dog meat is consumed: there are no official data on the number of animals killed, but based on the weight of the meat put on sale, it is estimated that there are between 10 and 20 million per year. Furthermore, according to the animal rights NGO Humane Society International (HSI), 4 million of the 10 million cats destined for human consumption worldwide would be killed in China. Dog meat consumption is highest in the southern provinces of China, but is also practiced in some northern provinces. Here it is traditionally consumed in the colder months, as it is believed to help rebalance body heat (in neighboring Korea, on the contrary, it is eaten in the warmer months).
In particular, in Yulin, a city in southern China, the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival is held in the summer months. The event was born in 2009 and according to the local government, which has distanced itself from the celebration, it has no connection with the traditions of the city, but is more of a marketing initiative by local restaurants. Estimates of the number of dogs killed during the 10 days of the festival vary between one thousand and 10 thousand. In 2018, it was estimated that 3,000 dogs were killed that year. The festival receives a lot of criticism from abroad every year, but it is also highly contested in China itself: in 2016 an online petition asking for its abolition collected 11 million signatures in the country.
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In April 2020, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture he had proposed a draft law to ban the consumption of dog meat, citing both the “progress of human civilization” and other reasons: in particular, concerns for animal welfare and those for the possibility of transmission of diseases from animals to human beings humans, for example through “wet markets”, the food markets spread throughout East Asia where in some cases wild animals are sold, often still alive and in precarious hygienic conditions.
On that occasion the ministry had removed dogs from the list of livestock, referring to them as “special pets”; in the same days the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong (where the consumption of dog meat is illegal), had become the first Chinese city to introduce a ban on the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat. For the moment, however, there is no detailed data to evaluate what impact these restrictions have had on the consumption of dog meat in China.
Besides China, dog meat is also consumed in other Southeast Asian countries. The second country in the world where the most dogs are killed for human consumption is Vietnam, particularly in the north of the country, where the capital Hanoi is located. According to a survey commissioned by HSI, almost 40 percent of the population eats or has eaten dog meat. Many Vietnamese see no difference between eating meat from dogs or other animals such as chickens or pigs. Traditionally, dog meat dishes are eaten especially in the second half of each lunar month, due to beliefs linked to astrology.
However, opinions are changing here too: as in many other countries, dogs are eaten less and less in Vietnam. Their killing is considered unacceptable by a growing number of people, especially among young people and in the south of the country. According to the survey commissioned by HSI, 64 percent of Vietnamese support a law banning the consumption of dog meat.
In part this is due to the increased popularity of dogs as pets, whereas previously they were kept mainly as guard animals. Furthermore, many of the animals killed are not raised specifically for meat consumption, but are actually kidnapped pets. Until 2014, a significant portion of the dogs were imported illegally from Thailand, before a Thai law prohibited the consumption and sale of dog meat in the country (meat consumption in the country was however quite limited).
In Indonesia the consumption of dog meat is quite widespread, despite the Islamic religion, followed by the majority of the population, prohibiting the practice. It is estimated that around one million dogs are slaughtered every year in the country. In fact, consumption is greater in Bali and in the north of the island of Sulawesi, where the most widespread religions are Hinduism and Christianity respectively. However, recently it has also spread among the Muslim population.
Dog meat has been banned in Taiwan since 2017. In the Philippines it has been banned since 1998, yet it is estimated that around 500,000 dogs are killed for their meat every year. In India it is eaten in some communities of Nagaland and Mizoram, two small states in the north-east of the country. In North Korea its consumption is legal, but there are no data regarding its diffusion.
Outside of Asia, dog meat consumption is quite limited. The practice is attested in some areas of Ghana and Nigeria, in West Africa, and in Oceania. Although eating dogs is taboo practically throughout Europe today, in 2012 a Swiss newspaper wrote that in some rural areas of the country dogs and cats are consumed regularly. In the United States, it has been illegal to kill dogs for meat since 2018. Some Native American communities are exempt from the ban, as their traditional rituals involve the killing and eating of dog meat.
In Italy there is actually no law that expressly prohibits the slaughter and consumption of dogs and cats. However, they are generally considered prohibited by interpreting in a broad sense, i.e. beyond what is expressly written in the laws, the rules on the slaughter of animals (in which dogs and cats are not among the animals whose slaughter is permitted) and on the protection of domestic animals.
Among the most criticized aspects of dog meat consumption are the methods by which the animals are killed. According to some accounts, they are often particularly painful: some animals are burned or boiled while still alive, or more frequently beaten to death. The reason for these practices is the mistaken belief that the increase in adrenaline in the animal’s blood makes its meat more tender or tasty. The actual spread of these practices is very difficult to calculate. In South Korea, for example, until now most dogs were killed with an electric shock.
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