Coronavirus causes surge in dog and cat meat sales in Vietnam and Cambodia, investigators say
Dog and cat meat dishes are being advertised on food delivery apps for restaurants' takeaway services. Each year, 10 million dogs and cats are slaughtered for eating in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.
JANE DALTON: Sales of dog and cat meat have risen in Vietnam and Cambodia since the outbreak of the coronavirus because people believe it has “warming” properties that head off flu viruses, an investigation has found. Even some hospital doctors recommend the meat to patients, claiming it helps protect them from cold weather and recover from surgery, according to campaigners.
But experts say caging the animals in large numbers and slaughtering them in insanitary conditions actively increases the chances of starting dangerous diseases, and there is no evidence of the meat having any beneficial effects. The trade is part of the “ticking time bomb” of live animal markets strongly thought to have sparked the pandemic and which could spark another one, they warn.
Covid-19 has also led to a sudden hike in dog and cat meat dishes being advertised on food delivery apps as restaurants in Vietnam switch to takeaway services… Before the outbreak, about 10 million dogs and cats were slaughtered for eating in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia every year, according to Four Paws. But its investigators said they had witnessed and heard how sales of the meat in the region had risen during the global pandemic…
“Our team who talked to the traders reported an initial decrease after the outbreak because people thought maybe there was a relationship with the virus, but the Cambodian government dismissed that notion after the World Health Organisation said dogs and cats were not a risk. The WHO said that to prevent mass abandonment of pets – but it had the opposite effect”…
“The rampant trade and live animal markets across southeast Asia are ticking time bombs. If governments do not act now and shut down these cruel markets, the next global pandemic might originate in Vietnam, Cambodia or Indonesia,” said Katherine Polak, a vet and head of Four Paws’ stray animal care in southeast Asia. SOURCE…
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