August 4, 2006
THE OTHER OTHER WHITE MEAT:
Chinese begin another mass dog slaughter (CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, 8/04/06, Associated Press)
A second Chinese city plans a mass dog slaughter to control a rabies outbreak, state media said Friday, days after a similar cull in which dogs were beaten to death prompted a torrent of criticism.Officials in the eastern city of Jining said Thursday they would kill all dogs within three miles of areas where rabies had been found, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The measure came in response to the deaths of 16 people from rabies in Jining in the last eight months, Xinhua said. It didn't say when the cull would begin or how the animals would be killed. It said the city had about 500,000 dogs.
Rabies cases are on the rise in China, with more than 2,000 people dying from the disease each year. Only 3 per cent of the country's dogs are vaccinated against rabies.
Once saw Barbara Bush tell a story about living in Peking during a dog cull, how their own suddenly went missing and how quickly the rest all disappeared--turned out that, given state sanction, folks were just grabbing any critter they could get their hands on and eating them. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 4, 2006 9:51 AM
When I was in China about 10 years ago, I had the misfortune to eat dog. I had traveled with my sister who was adopting a girl. The head of the orphanage was throwing a dinner party and the main course was dog. One all of the Americans learned that dog was going to be served they lost their appetites.
Seeing my chance to be a hero and to get out of diaper duty, I turned to my sister and said I'd eat her plate and mine if I didn't have to change any diapers or deal with my niece.
I've never seen my sister jump at anything so quickly. Needless to say it wasn't bad, kind of stringy and a lot like goat.
Don’t ask how I know about goat, that's another story for another time....
A Brazilian friend back when I lived in Paraguay claimed that when he'd lived in Bolivia, the new family cat would always permanently disappear the day or so before the neighbors had a party. Of course I was thirteen at the time, and gullible, and Bolivians were the subject of the kind of humor which in the US used to star hillbillies, Nodaks, Polacks and such.
Raoul: What's a Nodak? Someone from North Dakota?