une 3, 2013 -- Updated 1516 GMT (2316 HKT)
(CNN) -- Packed tight into wire baskets -- sometimes
20 or more to a cage -- animal rights activists say as many as 200,000
live dogs every year are smuggled from northeast Thailand across the
Mekong River destined for restaurants in Vietnam.
Animal rights activists say as many as 200,000 live dogs every year are
smuggled from northeast Thailand across the Mekong River destined for
restaurants in Vietnam. FULL STORY
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DOGS KILLED FOR MEAT
June 3, 2013 -- Updated 1036 GMT (1836 HKT)
Dogs slaughtered for meat in Vietnam
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Dog smuggling is booming in Thailand around the Mekong border region with Laos
- Thai authorities say the trade has been growing thanks to a strong market in Vietnam
- Animal welfare groups say operators often pick up strays off the street including pets
- A dog in Thailand can fetch up to $10 but sells for $60 in restaurants in Vietnam
Dehydrated, stressed,
some even dying of suffocation on the trip, the dogs are often stacked
1,000 to a truck on a journey that lasts for days.
"Obviously when you've
got dogs stacked on top of each other they start biting each other
because they are so uncomfortable, any kind of movement then the dog
next to the one that's being crushed is going to bite back," said Tuan
Bendixsen, director of Animals Asia Foundation Vietnam, a Hanoi-based
animal welfare group.
When they arrive in
Vietnam, the suffering doesn't end there. A common belief is that stress
and fear releases hormones that improve the taste of the meat, so the
dogs are placed in stress cages that restrict their movement.
Eventually, the dogs are
either bludgeoned to death or have their throats cut in front of other
dogs who are awaiting the same fate. In some cases, they've been known
to be skinned alive.
"Dogs are highly
intelligent animals so if you kill a dog and you have a whole cage of
dogs next to the one that's being killed, those dogs that are going to
be killed next know what's going on," Bendixsen said.
According to animal
rights groups, dog smugglers round up everything from family pets to
Thailand's ubiquitous strays -- known as soi dogs -- to sell the animals
in Vietnam, or even as far away as China where a pedigree dog can fetch
a premium price.
John Dalley of the
Phuket-based Soi Dog Foundation estimates 98% of the dogs are
domesticated and that some are even still wearing collars and have been
trained and respond to commands.
"You can see all types
of pedigree animals in these captured Thai shipments -- golden
retrievers, long-haired terriers, you name it," says Dalley. "Some are
bought. Others are snatched from streets, temples, and even people's
gardens."
In the past, batches of
stray dogs were traded for plastic buckets, but these days with demand
soaring -- especially in the winter months when dog meat is regarded as a
"warming" food -- a dog in Thailand can fetch up to $10. This figure
jumps to around $60 once they are served up in restaurants in Vietnam.
Dalley says pet dogs, in particular, are targeted because they are friendlier and easier to catch.
Animal rights activists
estimate that more than one million dogs are eaten each year in Vietnam;
for the dog smugglers of the Mekong, business is booming.
It's so inhumane ... it's quite literally hell on earth
John Dalley
John Dalley
While the trade is
illegal in Thailand, and authorities have made a number of raids
involving thousands of dogs, dog traders claim the laws are unclear and
have even mounted counter protests against a series of crackdowns.
Smugglers are normally
prosecuted under laws that prohibit the illegal trade and transportation
of animals and, with no direct animal cruelty laws in Thailand,
prosecutors attempt to charge smugglers with cruelty under Criminal Code
laws.
The Soi Dog Foundation
and the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are
fighting to change that and are currently working through the Department
of Livestock Development to get an Animal Welfare Draft Law through the
Thai Parliament.
The reality, however, is
that smugglers often receive light sentences of just a few months in
jail. Animal activists also say thousands of impounded dogs -- rescued
from smugglers -- that end up in quarantine centers sometimes find their
way back onto the streets and in the dog meat circle again.
"This is not about
whether it is right or wrong to eat dog meat," Dalley says. "It is about
an illegal trade worth millions of dollars per year organized by
criminals. The way in which these dogs are transported and, if they
survive, killed, is horrific.
"Some of the footage we
receive is so horrific it's too strong even for the media to run. It's
so inhumane ... it's quite literally hell on eartTOP ASIA STORIES
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