http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7080850/China-mulls-ban-on-eating-dogs-and-cats.html
China mulls ban on eating dogs and cats Dog and cat meat could be banned from restaurants in China after growing pressure from animal rights activists. By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai Published: 6:00AM GMT 27 Jan 2010 Dogs looks out of their cages from a truck on a motorway on the outskirts of China's capital Beijing. Photo: REUTERS Chinese legal experts will submit proposals for a ban on eating dogs and cats in April as part of a draft bill to tackle animal abuse. If the new regulation is passed, thousands of dog restaurants and butchers will be shut down, and anyone eating pets would be slapped with a fine of up to 5,000 yuan (£450) or 15 days in jail. Restaurants could incur fines of up to 500,000 yuan. A special hotline would alert the police to any violations. Dr Chang Jiwen, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, has been working on the legislation for 11 years and put forward a 181-clause final draft last September for public consultation. Dr Chang is now preparing to submit a shortened version of the law, focusing specifically on animal torture, to the National People's Congress (NPC). Dog, which is known as "fragrant meat", has been eaten in China for thousands of years, initially as a medicinal tonic. In the bitterly-cold North, dog stew is popular as a way of warming the blood. Cat meat has become increasingly popular in China's south. One dish, named "Dragon and Tiger in battle", which consists of cat and snake in soup, is particularly popular. Demand for the dish in the city of Guangzhou is so great that cats are now being imported from other provinces. However, China's increasingly-affluent and pet-loving middle class has risen up against the butchering of dogs and cats, and online petitions have attracted tens of thousands of signatures. Protests are regularly held at the special markets where dog meat is sold and there has been outrage over a government-sponsored cull of dogs in a bid to rid some cities of rabies. So far, there has been little indication of when the new law might be passed. While the NPC meets in March, it can often take years to approve draft legislation. In addition, Xin Chunying, the deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the NPC has publicly expressed doubts that any new animal rights laws are needed. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
