Dog meat now promoted at UK farmers markets

Disclaimer: Animal Aid opposes the killing of all animals for their meat. In the UK (where Animal Aid works), dogs are not eaten, and the idea that they might be is seen as sickening. Dogs are well-loved in the UK and are welcomed into people’s homes as part of the family. Animal Aid used this deep affection for dogs to urge people to show the same love and care to other animals by not eating them. However, some people overseas have misinterpreted this campaign, either mistakenly or deliberately. Animal Aid categorically does not support the killing of dogs – or any other animals – for their meat. Instead we actively promote a diet free from all animal products.

Featuring pictures of happy healthy dogs running through fields, chasing balls and swimming in streams, and the words ‘organic’ and ‘free-range’, the trailer will be offering dog meat to the public, with the assurance that all the animals were loved and well cared for before being butchered.

…And that’s when the unpleasant truth lying behind Animal Aid’s initiative is spelt out.

Whether organic, free-range, corn-fed or rested on the finest mattresses, at the end of the day it’s all the same for animals farmed for their flesh. They all end up in the same slaughterhouses; they are all alone and terrified; they are all hung upside down by their hind legs and all end up bleeding to death.

Animal Aid has documented routine abuse at slaughterhouses throughout the country, with animals being kicked, stamped on and improperly stunned before having their throats slit.* Our ‘dog meat’ stall will attempt to engage the public in a discussion about the way animals raised for food are killed and why certain animals are deemed unworthy of our compassion while others are treated as part of the family. Stall visitors will also be given free background literature.

Says Campaigner Andrew Butler, who will be manning the dog meat stall:

Most people eat different parts of various animals every day, without thinking too deeply about what those animals’ last moments were like. We hope that this will get people to confront the fact that, at the end of the line, all of these animals died with the smell of blood and fear in their nostrils and terror in their eyes, and yet they are no different from the millions of dogs who we, as a nation, dote on.

The dog meat trailer is making its way around the country, stopping at markets in 12 cities – Nottingham, Birmingham, Norwich, London, Southampton, Plymouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Mansfield, Glasgow, Newcastle and Leeds – as part of Animal Aid’s annual Vegan Month promotion. **

*Animal Aid has conducted an investigation in to seven randomly chosen slaughterhouses throughout the UK. The secret filming revealed animals being kicked, slapped, stamped on, and picked up by fleeces and ears and thrown into stunning pens. Animals were also recorded being improperly stunned and going to the knife while still conscious. Find out more.

**Vegan Month is an annual initiative that aims to encourage people to think about their food choices and question why some animals are loved and taken into our homes, whilst others are farmed and exploited for their flesh, milk and eggs.

Notes to Editors

• For background information on Vegan Month or the tour contact Kelly Slade by calling 01732 364546 ext 227.
• For more information about the vegan diet and lifestyle see our new website.
• Vegans around the country are available for interview.
• An ISDN line is available for broadcast quality interviews.