Takepart.com – Wed, Aug 1, 2012
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Smuggled: Thai police have rescued more than 1000 dogs from being smuggled into Vietnam to be eaten. Authorities stopped four trucks piled high with dogs crammed into tiny cages. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
Eating a dog and owning a dog: the two are not mutually exclusive concepts in Vietnam, where man’s best friend is also a time-honored national delicacy.
Dog is a popular dish in the Southeast Asian country, eaten not only for protein but for good luck and increased libido in men, reported AFP.
"We never kill our own dogs for their meat. Here I'm eating in a restaurant so I don't care which dogs they killed or how," residentPham Dang Tien said to AFP as he ate a plate of boiled dog at a Hanoi restaurant.
In recent years, dog restaurants have grown in popularity, leading to an increase in pup-related violence, according to the Associated Press. Dogs roaming free can be easily captured and sold, fetching about $6 per kilogram. A 44-pound (20-kilogram) pup can get you more than $100, about the monthly salary of an average Vietnamese worker.Men are often the customers at dog restaurants, choosing to chow down during the second half of the lunar month in order to best improve their fortunes and virility, according to BBC News. But plenty are also dog owners who make sure to keep a careful eye on their pets, lest they get stolen and become someone else’s hot meal.
But dog thieves, if caught, often face intense retaliation from hordes of community members. In June 2011, a man was chased and beaten to death after hundreds of villagers caught him trying to nab a family dog, reported the Associated Press. The mob then torched his body, leaving his remains out as a warning to others who may try the same tactics.
According to AFP, younger generations in Vietnam seem to be gradually taking more of a protective or Westernized stance toward their pets. But the value of dog still stands, with many Vietnamese differentiating between the meat they eat in a restaurant and the pets in their homes.
Kelly Zhou hails from the Bay Area and is currently a student in Los Angeles. She has written on a variety of topics, predominantly focusing on politics and education. Email Kelly | @kelllyzhou |TakePart.com
5 comments:
Humane society killed you if in the west....Stop eating dogs Ah Yuon ,Dogs are man best friend.
Youns eat dogs to make them brave. That's a secret now you know.
stop eat dogs, they are good pets. Vietnam and China eat more dogs than Cambodian.
Poor countries eat dogs, rich countries they eat live human (as in porn movies), some killed first, then cook and eat, such as Jeffery from US. And recently, a gay porn star from Canada who killed his Chinese partner, chopped off the body, sent to different parts of countries. He ate some according to the news.
Dog thieves are numerous in Cambodia, but Cambodians don't eat dog is known..
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