From Reuters via Yahoo:
Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month’s Olympics and September’s Paralympics.
Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China’s capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.
A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled.
Concerned that canine dishes might offend animal rights groups and Western visitors, Beijing said restaurants expected to be popular among foreign visitors must stop serving dog meat “to respect the dining customs of different countries.”
The directive “advocated” that all restaurants serving dog suspend it during the Olympics but made no mention of the many popular establishments with donkey on the menu.
Criticism from Westerners caused the dog meat-loving South Koreans to ban canine dishes for a period of time during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Dogs look out of their cages from a truck on a motorway on the outskirts of China’s capital Beijing:
The owner of this blog is a dog lover. I’ve been that way forever. My best friend for many of my early years was my German Shepherd named Mac. Today my Gentle Bride™ and I live with four Labrador mixes, and we consider them to be members of our family, not pets.
If someone comes to my house and harms any of my dogs in any way I will respond with force and violence. I will shoot to kill in the same way as if you harmed my family … period … no further discussion … and take my chances with the courts later.
I will not bemoan any South Koreans than enjoy eating dog, just like I don’t bash Scots for eating sheep or Americans eating cows. It’s just something I cannot do because over the years I have learned that dogs have wonderful souls, great attitudes towards life, and humans can learn a great deal from dogs. Dogs should be treasured, not slaughtered and eaten, because to do so wastes an intelligent and loving creature, a life-form far superior in many ways to many humans I meet.
Thus endeth the sermon.
