If this doesn't move you, your heart must be made of stone...

[LPC]

I just found this article and posted it on another forum. But this sad story needs airing, as it can move some people to action where otherwise they might not act:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesd...stall.html

This shows just how debased the dog-eating "industry" is. A stolen dog, brutally boiled alive and then its five-year human finds the corpse, left outside ready for consumption. There is heavy karma here to settle....

Karma has their number, as the Noble Knight always says.

[Tobi]

This is absolutely heart-wrenching. I cannot imagine anyone who would find this 'okay'.
The little girl knows more than so many of the adults. That is what we all should feel about something so awful.
That poor little child.
Whoever did these things will certainly remember it in their life review, but it is a pity their hearts weren't in the right place here on Earth. Then the dog would have lived happily and so would the child.

[Catslave.]

That's appalling there are some horrible people around

[Catherine]

I feel  sick at the brutality of it. That child is so wounded and her dog is gone. 

I hope there is some justice some day. The people who do this carry a load of guilt. I hope they someday come to feel it.

[Tobi]

It is said we come here to experience "mortality".
But why does someone like that little girl come here to know things like that? It is beyond comprehension.

In my wonderings, I wonder if those dogs came here to show us something about "not eating others"? To us, eating a dog is like eating our own children or brothers and sisters. To some cultures/business ventures -obviously not.

Yet any animal could become a companion....a friend. Here in the West we won't generally eat dogs and cats because we are used to them as friends and family members. But we will eat pigs, goats, sheep, cows, chickens because we harden our hearts, or have no personal experience of those animals as friends....
They could all be our friends just as easily as a dog can be.

I wonder if that is part of the reason those dogs came here, and went through what they did -to start to show us that?
In which case....that is beyond words.

[Catherine]

To brazenly display the dead dog where the child can see it is callous beyond belief.

I think you may be right about dogs. They are certainly here for  our benefit to make us better people.
If they can teach us compassion towards animals they will have made us better than we are now.

[LPC]

I take your point Tobi. Some of our sheep became almost like family - especially Josette, bless her! She would come up to have her head rubbed, even if no food was on offer. Some people say that is "OK to eat sheep or cow, but not OK to eat dog". My view is that any animal deserves respect.

I did not start this thread out of some sort of sentimentality, arguing that dogs only should be protected from cruel killings and consumption by humans, whilst others creatures should not. Of course, Catherine and Tobi already know this. But others readers of this forum may need this point to be explained. It is the boiling alive, the burning with blowtorches, etc. to which I object. This is common practice with dog consumption in Korea, China and Vietnam.

When I occasionally raise the issue of dog eating on other forums, some people trot out the old argument, "Ah, but we eat cows, sheep, etc. and they are often killed cruelly...". So now I always explain the issue carefully, pointing out that cruel killing of any animals are wrong. No matter what type of animal, cruel killing cannot be justified, even by meat eaters.

Having said all that, I agree with Catherine that there is something special about dogs. They have been close companions of humans since caveman times. Their sense of loyalty is exceptional. They teach mankind so much - when it is listening, that is....

[Tobi]

I agree LPC. 

Yes, dogs have much to teach us. I know that from personal experience, and am filled with gratitude. How anyone could wish to cause horrendous suffering to any Being who is capable of such love and devotion, I do not know.

[Catherine]

Quote:When I occasionally raise the issue of dog eating on other forums, some people trot out the old argument, "Ah, but we eat cows, sheep, etc. and they are often killed cruelly...". So now I always explain the issue carefully, pointing out that cruel killing of any animals are wrong. No matter what type of animal, cruel killing cannot be justified, even by meat eaters.

Having said all that, I agree with Catherine that there is something special about dogs. They have been close companions of humans since caveman times. Their sense of loyalty is exceptional. They teach mankind so much - when it is listening, that is....

There are two important points here:

1) It is not alright to kill animals cruelly. There seems to be an extreme brutality towards dogs during these festivals. Such behavior can never considered right.

(Many of us are not comfortable with eating meat because we don't want to be part of  killing any animal.)

2)Dogs do have a special bond with us. We live with them as family members and they serve us in many ways. This bond does go back to prehistoric days. The dog eating festivals are not that old and they are a betrayal of the traditional human/canine bond.
I am not sure we would be as advanced as we are if dogs had not befriended us. 

In this particular case it was a child's pet that was killed. That makes the action particularly heinous. There is no way to justify or condone killing a child's pet for food.