Taiwan : Tuesday, 14 December 2010 (Local Time)
Animal rights activists are to conduct a mass demonstration to protest against a Taiwanese prosecutor’s office decision to drop charges against five suspects accused of killing dogs for food.
They hope the demonsration, when they will demand tougher laws against animal abuse, will raise worldwide awareness.
The activists will insisted that the current law demands too much hard evidence to be practical.
Activist Ruan Mei-ling said the five men were caught killing two dogs by hanging them on a tree and having them grilled.
Prosecutors dropped indictments against the men last week, saying the dog’s bodies showed no signs of torture and the men were not caught eating their meat.
Many residents of Taiwan, an island situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the south-eastern coast of mainland China, still believe in dog meat’s nutritious value.
Dog meat is known by the euphemism ‘fragrant meat’, and while the eating of dog was previously more common, it is still practised on some areas of the island.
In 2004, the Taiwanese government imposed a ban on the sale of dog meat, due to both pressure from demestic animal welfare groups and a desire to improve international preception, although there were some protest.
In 2007, another law was passed significantly increasing the fines to sellers of dog meat.
But until the laws demanding hard evidence to prove the abuse, activists are worried that the problem will not be stamped out.
Story and Foto from : www.dailymail.co.uk
