No laws broken: restaurant in Chinese city slaughters and butchers donkey on the street

A restaurant in a Chinese provincial capital city has attracted controversy for slaughtering a donkey and butchering the carcass on the street, even though there are no Chinese laws against such acts.

A donkey meat restaurant in Zhengzhou, Henan province on Sunday laid a complete mule hide on the floor, and haung its bones and meat on a shelf behind as about a dozen people, including young children, looked on, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported.

A police assistant said a live donkey that was seen standing outside the restaurant earlier was believed to have been slaughtered on the street.

“The meat is fresh and trustworthy,” a customer said. “I will wash the street after it’s done,” the butcher added.

But some passersby said the scene was too gruesome and hoped the authorities would intervene.

Fu Jian, a lawyer at the Henan Yulong Law Firm, said there were only laws involving the slaughter of animals applied to wildlife and pigs.