British zoologist jailed for grotesque and shocking abuse of dogs

NEWS AND OPINION: Sadly, this new story is all over the Internet probably because it is so "grotesque". It is one of the most sickening examples of animal abuse by an individual ever recorded in my view. The British zoologist who committed these crimes is Adam Britton, 53, a crocodile expert. He pleaded guilty to 63 charges in an Australian court including bestiality, animal cruelty and possessing child abuse material. He was jailed for 10 years and 5 months in Australia yesterday. He admitted to killing dozens of dogs.

Image: MikeB based on an image deemed to be in the public domain.

He was a globally renowned crocodile expert. His reputation now, of course, is completely trashed. He had worked on BBC and National Geographic productions prior to being arrested in 2022. I can remember when that story first emerged.

The judge who sentenced Mr Britton to 10 years in jail described his behaviour as "unspeakable" and "grotesque".

Michael Grant, the Northern Territory Supreme Court Chief Justice warned that some details of the crimes that he had committed were too graphic to be published and he recommended that members of the public leave the court room.

Britain acquired 42 dogs online between 2020 and 2022. He promised their owners she would give them a good home as per an ABC report (Australia's national broadcaster).

Rather than giving them a good home as he promised, he filmed himself raping, torturing and killing them in a shipping container on this property in Darwin according to the ABC report. He shared the video footage on Telegram under a pseudonym.

People who attended the trial in the public gallery were seen crying and gasping as the offences were read out.

The judge said during sentencing: "You're sheer and unalloyed pleasure is sickeningly evident from the recorded material." Britton showed no emotion during sentencing.

Britain grew up in West Yorkshire. He obtained a PhD at the University of Bristol and then moved to Australia. He settled in the Northern Territory. He became a respected academic at Charles Darwin University.

He was considered to be an expert on saltwater crocodiles. He appeared on TV with celebrities including David Attenborough.

Outside the court, animal rights advocates gathered and labelled him a "zoo-sadist". They say that he deserves the death penalty. The death penalty has been outlawed in Australia since 1985.

He can apply for parole in April 2028. He is banned from owning mammals for the rest of his life.

Although the newspapers don't discuss this and I can only touch on it, he must have learnt this grotesque form of animal abuse somewhere from someone. I don't think humans inherit this kind of behaviour. And therefore, I would respectfully suggest that he learnt it from his parents perhaps his father. I think that point needs to be investigated actually. And we don't know whether he has children. If he has children has he passed on his miscreant behaviour to his kids? There is always a cycle of violence within a family. One generation passing it on to the next. It applies very starkly in the area of sport and trophy hunting. We see parents teaching their kids to hunt for pleasure. All animal advocates detest trophy hunting because it's so cruel and it is for the pleasure of the hunter.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Marlin's police chief, city manager and animal control officer accused of animal cruelty

NEWS AND COMMENT/OPINION: In Marlin, Texas, USA, the police chief, city manager and animal control oversee a dog shelter (dog pound). And within that dog pound there were dogs that were starving and living in filth and on the verge of death. Many had died. It was a vision of Armageddon in the dog shelter world.

Starving dog at Marlin's dog pound. Image: KWTX.

This appears to have been a complete failure by the city officials in caring for shelter dogs. It's the kind of failure which would normally result in arrests and prosecutions of the administrators of the shelter. 

But, as we know, when the authorities are the alleged perpetrators of animal abuse they are protected because they close ranks and the law is not applied equally. The old adage that everyone is equal under the law is simply a false concept.

In this instance, Marlin's mayor promised accountability but has so far failed to deliver according to Nathan Winograd in his email to me.

There's been a promised investigation by the Falls County Sheriff's Office which has not materialised. Sheriff Joe Lopez of that office said that dogs were not his priority! Yes, we understand that anywhere on the planet, for the police, dogs are not a priority and neither are cats.

The police are invariably engaged in speciesism by which I mean they prioritize humans over companion animals.

As a consequence of this failure of the authorities to act, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has become involved and he is reviewing the case. He told local news reporters that "the Marlin Animal Shelter investigation is now one of his top priorities."

The residents in the area are becoming restless and irritated by the lack of action. They are protesting according to local news reports (which is why the Governor is involved 🙄). They want accountability. A local news station reports that multiple dogs were found dead. They must've starved to death.

Around 40 peaceful protesters are demanding change. They've been protesting in Moody, Temple and Thornton to demand that Marlin's city manager, animal control officer and the police chief be arrested for animal cruelty under the law. They want prosecutions and they want accountability.

The mayor, Susan Byrd, said, "As a proponent of dog rescues we are all working to cooperate with the investigation by the Falls County Sheriff's Office. Upon completion of the investigation, the City of Marlin will do our best to ensure the responsible parties are all held accountable."

It would seem to me that she is in charge and therefore she should also be accountable 🤢. The local newsgathering station that I referred to here, KWTX, said that they tried calling the Marlin Police Chief multiple times for his comment but nothing was forthcoming.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Closure of cat meat restaurant, Vietnam. For an animal advocate this is a great Christmas present.

NEWS AND OPINION. THIS IS AN OP-ED. I VOICE MY OPINION: For an animal advocate like myself and there are many millions of others the news that the Vietnamese restaurant that killed 300 cats a month to make cats soup has closed for good is the best Christmas present they could have. 

This restaurant was a blot on the animal welfare landscape. They drowned 300 cats a month to make cat soup and presumably other cat meat meals. Can you imagine that? Drowning 300 cats a month? Every act an act of gross cruelty multiplied by 300 in a 30 day period which is 10 acts of gross cruelty every day against innocent animals.

And the people who did it had no qualms about it at all. Not an inkling of conscience. Nothing, nada, zero. The brain was dead. Or perhaps I am wrong and they did grow a conscience (see below).

Education

Actually, I think this is about education. I think the owner of this restaurant learned through the Internet and through the Humane Society that stealing people's pets and cruelly killing them and then eating them was immoral, wrong and entirely inhumane. It's about education ultimately. If you want to stop the cat meat trade then you need to educate people.

Pham Quoc Doanh, the restaurant owner tears down the signage on the closure of his cat meat restaurant. Image: Daily Mail.

Internet and sites like this and news media educate

This restaurant has been in the news quite a lot recently and I'm delighted that the news media are picking up on cat meat stories from Asia. I know this is a cultural thing and I know that we have to be sensitive about cultural differences and I try to be. We have to be sensitive and I understand that but when a culture fosters animal cruelty I think it becomes a universal issue and I also think under those circumstances we have a right to criticise.

I believe that anybody anywhere should do their best to stop animal cruelty by anybody anywhere.

This was the Gia Bảo restaurant in Thai Nguyen city, in the country's northeast. It was a profitable enterprise. Where did the cats come from? The Daily Mail says that they were "likely including stolen pets". They were drowned in a bucket one after another the newspaper says. Horrendous. Don't dwell on that thought.

The business was run by a 37-year-old man called Pham Quoc Doanh who took to this horrendous business because she was struggling to feed his family selling "other normal food and drinks". He's the man in the picture above.

He discovered that there was no other restaurant in the area where he lived selling cat meat so he decided on that type of business. No issue in his mind about animal cruelty by the way? And I am sensitive to the fact that he was struggling to survive. That is one aspect of the cat meat business. He had to find a way to feed his family and sometimes we have to give up on principles. 

However, putting criticism aside, he appears to have changed his mind because he reached out to the Humane Society International which has been campaigning for some time to stop the cat meat trade in Vietnam. The Humane Society offered him a one-off grant to change businesses to a grocery store. Perhaps he had seen the negative publicity and experienced falling trade?

He took up the offer and the picture you see on this page is him symbolically tearing down the signage outside his restaurant to begin a new business and a new way of life.

He said that he became upset with the cat meat business. These are his words:

"For a while now I have felt a genuine desire to leave the cruel cat meat business and switch to something else as soon as possible. When I think of all the thousands of cats I've slaughtered and served up here over the years, it's upsetting."

He added: 'Cat theft is so common in Vietnam that I know many of the cats sold here were someone's loved family companion, and I feel very sorry about that.'

Well, those words warm my heart in one way - his change of heart but he has committed horrendous crimes for a long time. And my eternal thanks to the Humane Society International which is doing such great work. It must have been a real struggle to encourage this man to do, what I would regard to be, the right thing.

The Daily Mail says that about 1 million cats are killed annually for their meat in Vietnam. I think you'll find that about 10 times that number is killed in China for the same purpose.

Vietnamese no longer believe in the cat meat business

Remarkably, the newspaper tells us that 71% of Vietnamese people living in Vietnam are in favour of a ban of cat meat. So perhaps his business was beginning to lose trade anyway. He found a way out.

We know that many domestic animals i.e. people's pets including stray cats are stolen for the cat meat trade. The same, by the way, applies to dogs in China and other Asian countries.

Education about superstitions

And you might know this but you might not: people who eat cat meat believe that it carries health benefits such as alleviating arthritis or that it has aphrodisiac properties. Sadly, I have to say that no science supports these views. It is all superstition; a superstition which results in mass cruelty against millions of companion animals. It is simply intolerable to any decent-minded person.

Massive amount of theft

The newspaper also tells us that 87% of people in Vietnam have had their pets stolen for the cat meat business or know of somebody who's pet was stolen.

That's another topic: the theft of domestic cats. The cat meat business is not only causing mass animal cruelty but mass criminality. Clearly nobody has been prosecuted for theft even though it happens up to a million times a year. This points to a lack of enforcement of criminal legislation in Vietnam because theft must be a crime in Vietnam. It begs the question as to whether animal cruelty is a crime in Vietnam. I would have thought that it was but once again there is a lack of enforcement.

The cats that were at the restaurant have been rescued. They were traumatised and they have been vaccinated and checked over for health issues and treated by veterinarians after which they will be put up for adoption and rehomed.

The companion animals and engagement programme manager of Humane Society International in Vietnam said:

"We are thrilled to be closing down our first cat meat trade business in Viet Nam, and hope it will be the first of many as more people like Mr. Doanh turn away from this cruel trade."

A big pat on the back to this man or woman. Let's hope that this cat meat business closure becomes a catalyst for similar events across Vietnam and in the wider region.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Animal Armageddon in China when 1000 cats were destined to be slaughtered and sold as pork or mutton

NEWS AND OPINION: I have used the phrase "animal Armageddon" for a good reason because that is what it looks like to me, an outsider, looking in at both the cat and dog meat market in China. In this story - and it is not exceptional - we have Chinese police aided by animal activists rescuing about 1,000 cats from a truck en route to a slaughterhouse (reports CNN).

Image in public domain.

If the slaughter of these cats had taken place - and it is likely that some were feral/stray and some were domestic cats (pets) - their meat would have been marketed as pork and/or mutton in order to maximise the profit margins that these unscrupulous traders hoped to have achieved in this obscene business.

There appears to be a massive amount of illicit trade in cats and dogs for their meat and fur in China. There is simply no way to control or monitor it properly particularly as there are no general animal welfare laws in China. There simply isn't. There's no desire or motivation to protect animals in China in a general sense by the local authorities. 

This rescue is probably an exception and thanks to animal activists. They are brave and committed. This is a fairly new and welcome trend by the way. For many years there was no concern for these animals.

After a tipoff by the activists, a lorry containing 1,000 cats was intercepted by the police from Zhangjiagang, in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.

The animals were destined to be taken south which is the area where, to my knowledge, most cat and dog meat markets are situated. There'd be slaughtered in the south to be served up on skewers as pork and lamb as well as in sausages.

The rescued cats have been taken to a nearby shelter. It is estimated that the fraud would have netted as much as $20,000 for the unscrupulous traders.

We don't know if any arrests have been made. The activists first noticed nailed wooden boxes with many cats inside near a cemetery. The activists then patrolled the streets for several days and noticed that a truck arrived to ferry the cats to a slaughterhouse. They intervened and called the police.

An animal activist in China said that the traders in cat meat can sell a pound of cat meat for around four dollars by passing them offers pork or mutton.

The seizure of trucks by animal activists destined for the South in the cat and dog meat markets is not uncommon. You will see videos and pictures online of brave animal activists stopping and offloading trucks carrying a large number of cats or dogs in rusty old crates or boxes. The animals are rescued but the illicit trade continues in Guangdong, a southern Chinese province, and, to the best of my knowledge, the home of the cat and dog meat market.

There is a complete lack of will by the Chinese government to do anything about the obscene and barbaric dog and cat meat markets in the south. They are left alone by the authorities because they are regarded as a cultural phenomenon and not to be disturbed as I understand the situation. President Xi Jinping supports this animal cruelty. 

There is no recognition by the Chinese authorities of the cruelty that occurs in these marketplaces. It appears to be incidental and of no importance.

For people who support the cat and dog meat markets in China because they don't see any difference in these meat markets to the abattoirs and slaughterhouses in the West, I would like to inform them that cats and dogs are not killed under regulated conditions, relatively humanely, but there are simply bludgeoned to death or thrust into boiling water alive. They are skinned alive. The whole thing is something out of Dante's Inferno. It is remarkable that it still happens today in a country which has the second largest economy in the world.

I have always stated that the time has come for international intervention to stop this in China. China will argue that they should be left alone to do as they please because it's an internal matter. I disagree because when animal cruelty is on this scale, it becomes an international problem. The world cannot just look on and rub their hands and say it looks horrible. I want to see America and other countries adopt sanctions against China until they introduce animal welfare laws of a high quality and enforce those laws while simultaneously shutting down all the cat and dog meat markets and cat and dog fur trade in China. The whole lot should stop ASAP.

To animal advocates, and anyone with an ounce of sensitivity, the dog and cat meat markets of China are horrendous and obscene places which should have been banned decades if not centuries ago.

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Tomohon Extreme Market has stopped selling cat and dog meat. It is hell on earth for animals

NEWS AND VIEWS: The Tomohon Extreme Market on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi may be the most hellish place on planet Earth for dogs, cats and other animals. It reminds me of other Asian animal wet markets where the animals are brutally killed. In this instance, there were reports that animals were bludgeoned and blowtorched to death. That is, indeed, extreme. It is extreme violence and cruelty of the most heinous and obscene kind. But I will tell you this: it is not that unusual in some Asian countries such as Vietnam, and China.

Members of Humane Society International transport a cage containing dogs from a slaughterhouse in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Friday.

 

(Mohammad Taufan / Associated Press)

I hate saying it but I must say it over and over again: the culture in Asia vis-à-vis companion animals can be utterly uncivilised. I must not generalise because there are some really beautiful people in Asian countries who love animals and care for them and rescue them.

But if we do generalise then the general culture is very poor indeed concerning animal welfare and that clearly is the case in the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. This cannot be denied.

That is why the headline news is extremely welcome for people like me and other animal advocates, particularly those animal advocates with a much higher profile than me such as the celebrities Cameron Diaz, Simon Cowell and Ricky Gervais who have signed a letter calling on Indonesian president Joko Widido to ban the cat and dog meat trade in Indonesia.

I don't know the Tomohon Extreme Market except that there is extreme violence at it but I suspect that other animals are slaughtered there or by suppliers. This story is about cats and dogs. What about the other animals.

The mayor of the district concerned has, we are told, decided to ban the selling of cat and dog meat at this marketplace. I don't know how profound a change that will make re: animal welfare because does it mean that all animals will be protected for the future? I don't know. It is a step in the right direction however.

The new policy will make the Tomohon market the first market in Indonesia to stop selling cat and dog meat according to Humane Society International.

A Sky News report on the market in 2020 following the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic found carcasses of dogs, bats, snakes and other animals at the market in unsanitary conditions. That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

I suspect that the Covid-19 pandemic had something to do with this change in policy because Covid either started in the Wuhan research laboratory or in the Wuhan wet market where similar animal cruelty took place. The Chinese have cleaned up their wet markets they say in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But in China and I would argue in Indonesia, the law is badly enforced. We don't know whether the banning of the sale of cat and dog meat in the Tomohon market is pursuant to a change in legislation or whether it is simply a declaration by the mayor. I should like to know how well this change in policy is going to be enforced.

RELATED: Indonesia - cat supersition. Superstition about the medicinal benefits of cat meat is a reason why they are slaughtered. Mass re-education is desperately needed.

There is a YouTube video on the Internet about the extreme Tomohon market and I'm not going to show it here but I can say that there is a warning against it which says that "this video depicts graphic scenes that are hard to take in. If you feel uncomfortable, please stop watching". That gives you a clue as to how bad it is. And it makes me wonder how Indonesians can behave like this towards animals. They must be completely desensitised to the concept that animals are sentient beings.

The only way you can be this cruel to animals is to regard them as objects and what I mean is inanimate objects such as televisions and armchairs. You cannot believe that they are sentient beings with the capability to feel pain if you treat them this badly and put them through human hell.

There is a picture on the Los Angeles Times website of members of Humane Society International transporting a cage containing dogs from a slaughterhouse at the Tomohon market. It is on this page.

The newspaper also tells me that on Friday, 21 July 2023, the authorities announced an end to the cat and dog meat slaughter at this market. They appear to correct another report by saying that the "permanent end of the slaughter and trade was announced Friday by the regional secretary of the city of Tomohon, Edwin Roring". The Humane Society International said that they would rescue the remaining live dogs and cats from the slaughterhouse suppliers and transport them to sanctuaries.

The authorities believe that if they stop selling cat and dog meat at this market it will reduce "people's interest in consuming dog and cat meat in Tomohon".

You wonder whether that will work. The cat and dog meat is a deep cultural habit. Simply stopping its availability in one marketplace won't stop the habit in my view. And I believe that the reason behind it is not animal welfare but to prevent zoonotic diseases being transmitted from distorted animals to people.

Other welfare groups have called the treatment of the animals at the market brutally cruel and like "walking through hell".

In the letter I refer to above by the celebrities, they stated: "These animals, many of them stolen pets, are subjected to crude and brutal methods of capture, transport and slaughter, and the immense suffering and fear they must endure is heartbreaking and absolutely shocking."

North Sulawesi province is home to more than 2.6 million people. Most of them are Christian in what is a mostly Muslim archipelago nation. That interest me. Clearly, Christianity which in its pure sense would abhor this kind of animal cruelty, is no deterrent to Indonesians committing these extreme acts of cruelty against animals.

Thousands of dogs and cats are slaughtered weekly in North Sulawesi and I'm sure that the closure of the Tomohon market will not stop the brutality across the area. It will simply reduce it.

One person involved with the mass slaughter of cats and dogs for the market said that he is disappointed but will continue to supply the market with pork. The cruelty will continue with different animals. 

As I said, the habits will continue and I'm not that optimistic for the long term but this is good news nonetheless because it is the beginning hopefully of the end of the cat and dog meat market in Indonesia.

It will, though, take a very long time to eradicate it completely. There are also changes afoot in Vietnam along similar lines. I think it is because there's been a lot of pressure from the West through social media against this animal cruelty. These countries want to be perceived by developed countries as civilised societies. You cannot be regarded as civilised if you treat animals that appallingly.

Boycott China by not buying their cheap products any more to make a statement about the Yulin dog meat 'festival'

I agree with Phaedra on Twitter. With the Yulin dog meat festival around the corner (June 21st), today is a good day for all citizens in the West to boycott Chinese products manufactured in China. Billions of their products are bought by citizens of the West to support China. 

Sickening and abject cruelty. We must not accept it. We should make a stand and boycott Chinese goods. Image: Twitter.

I don't mind normal business but if people in the West want to make a statement about the objectionably cruel and barbaric dog meat 'festival' then they should stop buying Chinese products. That means checking whether it has been made in China or not. It means doing a bit of research and paying more perhaps for the same sort of product.

It'll be hard. But we can contribute to making the world a better place. And my God it needs to be improved especially, for me, concerning the lack of animal welfare in Asia.

RELATED: How can the 10-day dog meat market in Yulin be called a FESTIVAL!?

I think that we are addicted to cheap Chinese products. They do make some great products which is why online businesses such as Amazon sell billions of them. And I love Amazon. But, we should make an effort I think to put some pressure on China to change their attitudes and culture regarding the cat and dog meat businesses.

It's just too cruel to ignore. The governments of Western countries do not want to put any pressure on China to improve animal welfare in their country. It is, therefore, down to the citizens of these countries to take unilateral action. To do their little bit to put even a tiny bit of pressure on China. 

If millions of people stopped buying Chinese products it may achieve something. It is highly unlikely obviously because only about 10 people will read this post!! But something has to be done because every day, on Twitter, we see the barbaric human behaviour at the Yulin dog meat festival. We can't simply acquiesce to this. In acquiescing we are accepting it.

I know there is a cultural issue here. People say that people in one country should not get involved in the culture of another country. In general, I tend to agree with that except in exceptional circumstances as is the case with gross animal cruelty. In my mind this is a universal and global issue. It is up to anyone anywhere to criticise and become involved. This is about mother Earth not individual countries and their cultures.

Today is a good day to to #BoycottChina and stop shopping except for the most important items. Even the cheapest #Chinese items add up.#StopYulin

Save money, send a message. We do not accept ⬇️
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ https://t.co/HiaQCN9AS6 pic.twitter.com/CWIN0XzwOI

— Phaedra (@PhaedraXTeddy) June 3, 2023

Asian man is JOYOUS as he cruelly tortures a confused dog

Please I don't want anyone saying I am being racist. I am not. I am reporting on what I see. If someone criticises me, they are defending animal cruelty of the most heinous type.

As they say, all the devils are here and during the Yulin dog festival and they are all in bloodyYulin. I makes me weep to see this. There is another picture adjacent to this one on Twitter which is worse but I can't handle it. I can't force myself to download and upload it because it means looking at it. 

Note: I believe this to be Yulin, China. If I am wrong tell me please. It changes nothing though.

Sorry. I can't show the picture here as there are advertisers on this page. Please click here to see it.

And these devils in human clothes in Yulin are doing it. They are completely without any moral code or awareness of what they are doing. They have no knowledge of animal sentience. No thought about the pain and acute distress they are causing. 

Just blank, mindless and ignorant heads full of sh*t. I hate them with a massive vengeance. These idiots are the people I hate the most by a big margin.

In a more civilised society with animal welfare laws, they'd be arrested on the spot and charged but in good old Yulin, nada. It is entirely accepted and admired.

Look at the onlookers. Gawping at the crazy animal torture. Voyeurs of the worst kind. Disgusting.

Approximately 10,000 dogs are slaughtered each year for the “festival”. Actually, word 'slaughter' is wrong as it implies abattoir and European standards. It is not. It is just beating them to death or worse.

An estimated 30 million dogs are killed for human consumption each year across Asia in a brutal trade that involves terrible cruelty to animals and often, criminal activity. - Humane Society

That is about half the human population of the UK. That is about half the total number of domestic dogs in the USA. Yes, in terms of numbers, 50% of the dogs in the USA are brutally killed annually for their flesh in Asia. Great. This is massive stain on humanity. 

It is so bad I wonder if it affects the social conscience of the Chinese and Asian generally. No, that can't be true.

The nadir or animal cruelty and it takes places 30 million times in 12 months and it is LEGAL! And if for bizarre reason it is technically illegal who gives a sh*t as the law is unenforced.

This is how Chinese thieves steal dogs for the dog meat market

The video is completely explanatory and horrific to any decent person. It shows a couple of men getting out of a van and climbing the wall surrounding a front yard in which are two pet dogs. They use dog catcher poles to capture the dogs and in the case of one of the dogs drag them over the wall with force by the steel collar around his neck. Horrendous. It could have killed the dog. Perhaps it did. 

Utterly, utterly brutal. By Western criminal standards these men are psychopathic bastards. They'd be in jail for several years if they did this in the UK and were caught and successful prosecuted.

The dogs are then driven in lorries in very cramped, rusty cages to China's south to the dog markets where their end will be shockingly brutal. My heart hurts for them. May they rest in peace. Bless them. As a wise person said, hell is empty. All the devils are stealing cats and dogs in China for dog meat and fur.

I won't say what I'd like to do to these men. It'd be as brutal as the abuse they mete out to the dogs.

Cat Hell Dog Nightmare Human Norm

WARNING: this is about dog and cat meat and the brutality of the business. It's just horrendous. The pictures are from a horror movie only it's real this time. And for the perpetrators it is all normal but got the cats and dogs it is a living hell until they are mercifully killed. You have to click links to see the pics as they are too horrible to have on this page. 

The brutal and ignorant behavior by the humans (sub-humans) who kill cats and dogs for meat reminds me of Putin's behavior in his manic desire to invade Ukraine and the subsequent death, destruction and rape perpetrated by his troops. There is not much difference in attitude which is why Russia is matey with China and vice versa.

It is tough to face up to humankind's weaknesses. People in one country don't like people in another country criticising them. They say "you don't understand our culture" and "what right have you got to criticise". That sort of thing. At its root, this article is not about a country's culture. It is about obvious animal cruelty of the most heinous kind. It is about base human behavior dressed up as part of an area's culture. All of us have a right to criticise that wherever we are. Despite that I will be ostracized by someone, somewhere.

This website never shirks from spelling out the truth. A lot of people don't like that. Humankind is very good at self-denial and finding ways of covering up the truth. Millions of examples take place every day. The current classics in the cat world are:

1. The mass slaughter of unwanted cats at "shelters" while we have fancy cat shows showing gorgeous, purebred cats bred for the purpose. You cannot justify having the latter while the former takes place.
2. Declawing of cats. A modern aberration and horribly distorted human behavior that one day will look ridiculous - hopefully.

To the above two I'd like to add something that is worse than both but which takes place at the opposite side of the world, in Asia. There are some horror pictures below the text. This is as bad as animal cruelty gets. See also cat meat name and shame.

Warning: Don't read on if, like me, you become upset at gross animal abuse. But please spread the word to try and stop this.

I received an email from Ольга Брундасова. I have published the contents verbatim. I believe that is what she wants me to do. I expect that you will find these words on other websites. They need to be.

PETITIONS

Update: these petitions are closed now as this post was written many years ago but it has been updated (see below in yellow highlighter).

• www.thepetitionsite.com/1/meat-trade--dogs-cats/  
• www.thepetitionsite.com/368/stop-animal-abuse-china/  
• https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=2169  
• http://www.ptroa.co.il/petition/  
• www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/395/884/823/

The $2 billion dollar-a-year South Korean dog and cat meat industry, which extinguishes the lives of approximately two and a half million dogs a year for meat or gaesoju, a dog wine or broth, and thousands of despised and doomed cats for so-called “health” tonics or goyangyeesoju, and soup, operates in a sordid and illicit world where farmers and butchers kill with frightening impunity in the most abominable fashion. Dogs are killed with high-voltage electronic rods (which does not kill immediately), hanging, or even beating the dog to death at the request of customers who believe that the meat is more tender and tastier the greater the dog suffers (one of the most pernicious of myths) and that the medicinal properties are enhanced. 

They are most often killed within sight of their cage mates. They are then thrown into a tub of boiling water, often still alive, and then into a rotating drum for the removal of their fur, and finally blowtorched. At Moran Market, South Korea’s largest open air-market for dog meat, dog carcasses are on display next to the cages of live dogs. Cats are thrown into boiling water while alive. At the farms, dogs are fed germ-infested, rotting, and fermented human leftovers, a health risk to both the dogs and those who eat them. In South Korea, dogs and cats’ lives are short and ferociously heartless until they tremble no more at the hands of their slaughterers as cage mates look on.

Legitimacy of dog meat in Korea

Dogs are defined as “livestock” according to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAF). The purpose of keeping them as livestock--for breeding, killing, or whatever--is irrelevant to the law.

However, dogs are not defined as “livestock” under the Livestock Processing Law. That is, they are not listed as livestock that can be officially processed as food. Therefore, it can be inferred it is illegal to process dogs for food, but there is no law expressly forbidding it.

It might be argued that since Korean laws are usually strict in listing what is allowed or prohibited, and since dogs are not listed as animals that can be processed as food, then it is illegal to produce dog meat.

The current Animal Protection Law does not ban the slaughter of dogs for meat, nor does it protect dogs on dog farms from abuse. It only applies to dogs kept in a house.

Tens of millions of animals are slaughtered and butchered in China each year. Animal fur is in high demand, and the Chinese deliver. What does not get exported outside of China usually ends up on a dinner plate. The sad fact is that the animals suffer horrendous torture. They are captured on the streets, and packed by the dozens into small cages, without ability to move. 

They are then tossed like inanimate objects from the trucks, onto the ground, hitting each other and the steel cages. These cages are later stacked, and the real nightmare begins. The animal is brutally pulled out of the cage, and tied to prevent resistance. It is lightly stunned by a blow on the head, but still alive. If the animal is not heavy, the worker holds it by its hind legs, waves it in the air and then bashes its head against the ground. Once the animal is subdued, a new and incomprehensible stage in this ongoing nightmare begins. 

The worker cuts a tiny incision in the animal's rear, and then methodically peels away the skin. This skinning process takes about a minute, during which the worker actively keeps the animal alive, as it is believed that it is easier to skin the animal while it is still warm and blood flows through its veins. The nightmare does not end here. 

The final stage in this unbelievable horror is when the animal is tossed aside, and slowly, amidst a heap of its dying friends, it perishes as it is no longer able to withstand the pain. In other cases, when the animal's fur is not needed (mostly with cats), the animals are put in a sack, and are then cooked alive in a barrel of boiling water.

Back in the day, there was a series of photographs below this text. But the policies regarding the kind of pictures you can put on websites has changed over the years. Nowadays, advertisers don't want their adverts to be in any way associated with pictures which are difficult to view. Accordingly, below, you will see a series of links to these photographs. You remain on this page and will be able to view the pictures on another page where there are no adverts. Sorry for the inconvenience.

These are all brutal photos. Horrible. A complete breakdown in morality. It's ignorance and cruelty.

Image 1 - dog being beaten to death
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Man banned from keeping animals for 10 years for a second time

John McKie, 68, has been banned from keeping animals for a further 10 years. He was exposed by a concerned person who reported to the RSPCA that he was keeping cats at his property. In December 2013 he was handed a 10-year ban on keeping animals after he had been cruelly neglected his German Shephard dog, Prince. The dog was found collapsed and infested with maggots. The dog was taken to a veterinarian who euthanised him.

John McKie has been banned from keeping animals for the second time. Photo: Newcastle Chronicle.

On receiving the report, the RSPCA visited McKie's home at Thropton Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7, UK, to investigate. Inspector Kirsty Keogh-Laws found three cats inside his home. She advised him that as he was subject to a ban on keeping animals, the cats would have to be removed.

A couple of days later McKie admitted to a fourth cat at his property which was also taken into care. Three of the cats have been checked over and rehomed. A fourth, an elderly cat, had health problems and regrettably she was euthanised.

McKie appeared at Newcastle magistrates' Court on July 16 and pleaded guilty to breaching his animal disqualification order of 2013.

Comment: I wonder if the RSPCA veterinarian has been a little bit too eager to euthanise the elderly cat. I don't know. I'm guessing. But in these sorts of cases, I suspect that it is not uncommon to euthanise a companion animal when it is borderline whether they treat the animal and rehomed them or euthanise them. It would be a matter of cost to the RSPCA. I wonder how often the question of cost dictates whether they kill an animal or treat and rehome?

And the story highlights the difficulty in enforcing animal disqualification orders. How are they policed? It seems that the person who found out that he had animals knew that he was subject to a ban. But you'd have to know that somehow and it is unlikely that you would. I wonder for how long McKie had these cats? Years probably. They could have suffered. They were at risk.

Naming and shaming: Mark Anthony Scott and his brother Stephen Scott who starved their cats are banned from keeping animals

This is just a little vignette, as I call it, of life in the home of a couple of idiot and cruel brothers in England who starved their cats and left a dog with an untreated skin condition. RSPCA inspectors made several visits to their home between September 2019 in February 2020. The cats looked thin and when they were palpated the bones of their hips and spine could be felt. They showed extreme hunger when taken to a veterinarian. When food was put down, they ate immediately and the veterinarian reported severe hunger.

Naming and shaming: Mark Anthony Scott and his brother Stephen Scott who starved their cats are banned from keeping animals. Two of the animals. Pic: RSPCA.

When an RSPCA inspector, Rachael Hurst, visited she saw a ginger shorthaired cat frantically eating something off the bathroom floor next to the toilet. One cat, a-year-old tortoiseshell was found to be emaciated and a veterinarian reported that she would have been suffering for many days before taken to a veterinarian.

Sadly, two cats had to be euthanised because they were in such bad condition. They had been taken to the PDSA for treatment.

The Scott brothers live at Vine Street, South Shields, UK. They were sentenced at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 19 May 2021 after being found guilty in their absence. In other words, they did not attend the hearing. The probably failed to turn up.

These two need to be named and shamed for their cruelty. These cats could have starved to death and it appears that they were not far from it. Such cruelty. We don't know how the RSPCA got involved. Perhaps somebody reported them. That is the usual way these acts of cruelty are exposed.

It seems that they semi-abandoned the cats and a dog who was in a bad way. The court found that Mark Scott "permitted the failure of another person to provide adequate nutrition to the cats and failed to supervise his brother in caring for them". It looks to me like a case of acute neglect, simply shutting one's mind to the fact that they were starving cats to death. Incredible irresponsibility. A complete lack of sensitivity towards animal welfare. I don't know why they weren't fined heavily or even sentenced to serve time in prison. That's what I would have given them if I were the judge. We don't have photographs of them, sadly. They will look like uneducated idiots.