Letters | If even Covid pandemic can’t teach respect for wildlife, humanity is doomed

Name: Major dog meat market closes down in South Korea, over 80 dogs rescued
Uploaded: 2021-01-08T23:00:17.000Z
Duration: 57 s
Description: Major dog meat market closes down in South Korea, over 80 dogs rescued

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A man wearing a protective face mask walks by a poster promoting wildlife protection in Beijing on March 11 last year, after the authorities began to crack down on the sale of wild animals in wet markets. Photo: AP

Letters

Published: 7:00am, 9 Jan 2021Updated: 7:00am, 9 Jan 2021

Until Covid-19 shut the Wuhan wildlife market, animals were being kept in horrific conditions before slaughter, with wolf cubs on the menu. In some markets, dogs are skinned alive in the belief that inflicting such horrific torture will make it taste better; this is sickeningly cruel (“Who let the dogs out?”, December 17). In October, in West Java, a whale shark swimming in shallow water was dragged up onto the beach and sliced up alive. Why do some people accept such cruelty as normal?

Even in Hong Kong wet markets, live turtles are sold wrapped in netting to keep them immobile, fish swim in tanks waiting for the chopper, and in some places, chickens in cages will have their throats slit, all due to the belief that “fresher is better”.

On a lesser scale, animal cruelty needs to be addressed by parents: the mainland human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang felt bad about chastising his son for hitting the family cat, but he was right to do so; children need to learn to be kind.

Humankind’s voracious appetite is destroying biodiversity, wiping out rainforests, emptying the oceans and despite some theories on the novel coronavirus having most probably been unleashed by our disrespect for animal life, there seems to be no urgency in changing the way we behave.

China has only temporarily banned the wildlife trade, and the loophole of continuing to allow wildlife to be used for non-food purposes, such as in Chinese medicine, may result in this commendable action being wasted.

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Major dog meat market closes down in South Korea, over 80 dogs rescued

There are people who realise all creatures sharing this planet have ecological value, but there are also those who appear to totally lack compassion and see them only as “food” or “not food”. Sadly, even companion animals, such as dogs, are viewed by some with revulsion, the enormous benefit of having them become part of the family completely lost upon closed minds.

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | If even Covid pandemic can’t teach respect for wildlife, humanity is doomed

Letters | If even Covid pandemic can’t teach respect for wildlife, humanity is doomed