The United States of America’s House of Representatives (“The House”) has issued a non-binding resolution urging other nations to end the cat and dog meat trade.
The countries
The resolution asks the governments of India, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and China to ban the consumption of feral, stray and domestic cats and dogs.
Last year, Taiwan became the first Asian government to ban the cat and dog meat trade in their country. Please remember that these animals are brutally killed totally outside of all norms, controls or regulations. And millions of these animals are slaughtered annually. It’s completely unacceptable.
Banning cat and dog meat in US
The resolution directed at these countries was made at the same time that The House passed legislation which bans the cat and dog meat trade in America. It may surprise some people, it certainly surprised me greatly, that cat and dog meat is still legal in 44 states. Although I’d hope and expect it to be rarely seen.
Amendment to existing law
The legislation takes the form of an amendment to the federal Animal Welfare Act. The bill was passed last Wednesday. Specifically it makes it illegal to knowingly “slaughter, transport, possess, buy, sell or donate dogs or cats or their parts for human consumption”. A fine of $5000 is the punishment to violators.
The House are optimistic that the Senate will pass the bill into law. It is called the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act.
Companion animals not livestock
A member of The House, Buchanan, made a point which needs to be stressed namely that dogs and cats provide love and companionship to millions of people. Therefore they should not be slaughtered for meat. They cannot be treated as livestock and I would hope that the citizens of the nation’s mentioned above understand that obvious message and take action as soon as possible to ban the trade in their countries.