Cat and dog meat: Hong Kong shop raided, 70 years after trade was banned
CNN
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Authorities in Hong Kong have raided a store suspected of marketing pet and cat meat as food items – extra than 70 years just after the trade was outlawed.
Officers seized “suspected samples of puppy or cat flesh” at a shop in the Yau Ma Tei district during a “joint blitz operation” by the city’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Food items and Environmental Hygiene Office on Thursday evening.
The AFCD mentioned it experienced carried out the raid immediately after receiving experiences that the meats had been on sale in Yau Ma Tei – a densely populated professional and household district in the Kowloon area – and that it experienced organized testing of the seized samples.
It claimed it was also investigating whether the store was investing fresh meat without the need of a license.
“Prosecution will be instituted ought to it be demonstrated,” the AFCD explained in a assertion.
Taking in doggy and cat meat has been prohibited in Hong Kong since 1950 less than the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s laws, and the news has prompted each lawmakers and animal welfare advocates to contact for higher enforcement endeavours.
Lawmaker Gary Chan in a Facebook article described the sale of cat and pet meat as “unacceptable.”
“Hong Kong has outlawed the feeding on of cat and pet dog meat for more than 70 years,” the legislator said. “The incident highlights that the frequency of spot checks by regulation enforcement businesses has not been adequate.”
The raid by the federal government companies adopted local media experiences alleging the meats could be identified on sale frozen for about $12 a catty (a area unit equivalent to about 1.3 pounds) – identical to the selling price of cooked beef.
Regional rights group Modern society for the Avoidance of Cruelty to Animals stated on Friday it “strongly condemns” the offering of pet and cat meat for foods.
It urged the public to promptly speak to the police and other applicable authorities if they suspect it is on sale.
Hong Kong’s Canine and Cats Laws stipulates that “no particular person shall slaughter any pet or cat for use as food stuff regardless of whether for mankind or normally, and no man or woman shall promote or use or allow the sale or use of the flesh of canine and cats for food stuff.”
Offenders are liable upon conviction to a utmost wonderful of $640 and six months’ imprisonment.
An approximated 30 million canines and 10 million cats globally are slaughtered each and every 12 months for human intake, according to Humane Modern society International. Usage of the animals in pieces of Asia are fueled by illegal trade and slaughter.
