I'm not sure that "Charlotte's Web" actually promotes vegetarianism. Sure, they save Wilbur, but the family eats turkey for Christmas instead.

I Had a dogs their names were sophie and kuuku... I love my dogs dearly but my relatives sold them to the people who buy dog and slaughter them then eat it... i cried when i watch them took with a rod,a rope on the end and put the rope around their neck... they don't deserve to be slaughtered,... because i am the one who nurse them when they are sick...is there a law that the people who done that thing be punished?

>>>KP's Response:

Hi Kat,
It depends on where you live. I'm so sorry about what happened to your dogs.
KP

KP-

Just curious... what would you do if you saw the lady in Malaysia trying to beat her dog today? Because I think your 16 year old self was brave and wonderful!

KP's Response:

Hi Rhonda!
You're so sweet to say that! Well, today I would have been reluctant to just turn the dog loose, because he might have gone back to the woman eventually or he may have gotten into some other danger. So I would have tried to talk to the woman, and then, if she didn't seem like she was going to calm down and be reasonable, then I would have taken the dog home with me and called the police (I doubt if they had an animal control agency back then). I'm not sure how things would have turned out if I had done that, but it would have been more responsible, I think. However, my host family would have been mortified!
KP

I think there would be much more success in stopping this if people focused more on getting better resources to these people than on just outlawing the actions. When people eat dogs and cats it's not because they prefer it or they are so much more horribly mean than people who eat other animals but because they are incredibly poor and slaughtering strays is the best option they have.

I find your post a breath of fresh air in discussion of the topic. I loathe seeing all the wankfests by meat eaters posting "OMG THEY ARE SLAUGHTERING PUPPIES! THEY ARE SO EVIL! LET'S CUT OFF ALL COMMUNICATION AND TRADE WITH THE WHOLE COUNTRY!" and entirely miss the point.

What is food for one person is a pet for another. Let's think about this for a moment, okay? The issue is not puppies dying. It's animals dying because people are starving.

>>>KP's Response:

Hi J. Teeple,
Thanks for your comments! I don't like that hypocrisy either. However, I think the dog-eating is about more than human poverty. Dog meat is actually considered a food that increases virility in men, so I think that's a big draw. Also, rice and other plant foods are very cheap, so I bet these construction workers could afford to eat a vegetarian diet but just don't want to. They think dog meat makes them strong.
KP

It isn't only for food that some savage people kill a loved dog. I was watching a show a couple years ago called "taboo", and in it, this adorable family pet names patience was beaten to death, cooked and eaten to appease the gods..
How the hell any camera man can stand there and watch such horror is beyond me, my first thoughts were "If I were that camera man, I'd blow those people straight to hell", and I meant it.

" The issue is not about puppies dying. It's animals dying because people are starving"..
Are you serious, J. Teeple?

First let me congratulate you on a "fine spew of complete bull shit."

men in various countries will have a snake killed so he can drink it's blood, believing that he will be healed and strong. There are practices all over the world that derive from such beliefs.
I assume you do not read much, watch television or travel? Forgive me for my outrage, but you clearly need to educate YOURSELF on the matter before you can even conceive of what REALLY goes on with the abuse of animals and reptiles.

Seriously, I am not being a wise-ass.

The killing of any healthy animal is not only appalling, but it is barbaric and uncivilized.

I guess it would then be just as simple to explain away, if people were killing their infants and children because they were hungry?

Would that be ok with you?
It sounds like it. Animal lovers place them in the same category as family. Maybe that is the point that you don't get? I don't know, I'm asking you..

Have you ever seen a baby seal clubbed to death for there mere purpose of it's fur?
Have you ever watched someone club a puppy or full grown dog to death, witness it's pain, see the look of not only fear, but confusion, as it's "loving family" beat it, to it's last howling cry..have you?

Have you ever seen or heard of sadistic people who will bury a kitten neck deep just to mow over its head?

People do some very, very sad things to animals, and if you want to justify it with calling it starvation..I think your misled and would benefit a great deal from wondering around the PETA site and perhaps watch some of the videos..I suggest the chicken farmers one first.

Okay, first, who are you to judge someone elses culture? the way they kill the dogs to eat them is wrong, but that is their CULTURE. and letting that woman's dog looses was wrong. talking to her wouldve been sufficient. and the comparison to charlotte's web and vegetarianism is delusional. it's an awesome children's book that teaches kindness, but it has no real hidden meaning. they eat meat in it, so it promotes nothing but being kind. i hate it when people are trying to change other people's cultures and beliefs when they could just leave it alone.

>>>KP's Response:

Hi Chris,
Are you telling me that you agree with anything labeled "culture"? How about the way women are treated in many other cultures? Is that fine with you too?
And Charlotte's Web certainly does promote vegetarianism, just as the movie Babe does. Once you underscore how wonderful and deserving animals are, as in Charlotte's Web and Babe, you can't go back to eating them. It doesn't have to be spelled out explicitly. Little kids get it. I sure did!
KP

Dogs are my best friends. I have a golden retriever and a lab-golden mix, both of them were adopted... They are always nice and friendly to me and others. Always greet me happily when I come home from work. Play with me, even sleep on my bed. There are some days when I'd rather not see people..instead I stay home with my best friends. My dogs.

I don't agree that we can't be critical of something of someone else's culture just because it's culture.

I also don't agree that people only kill and eat dogs because they are poor.

There are many poor people in Los Angeles who could easily subside off of rice and beans but they choose meat...because THEY LIKE IT and WANT TO. Simple as that. Only in extreme situations would poverty be an excuse.

As for the culture aspect...if I can criticize my own countries factory farms then I can surely have a critical eye towards ANY barbaric activity in any country. There is a lot of it, too...against women, against animals. We need to say something...not because we are perfect but because if it's wrong then we need to say something.

My attitude of culture is this: We should observe different cultures and pick out the best of each. For me I admire many Eastern types of meditation and yoga and philosophy but not their dog eating! I also admire many ethnic foods and think Americans could eat better in that way. But I love how my country has put a value on women, for example.

Love this blog.

I'm a Malaysian and damn. If I saw a foreign worker doing anything to a puppy, I swear, my baseball bat will hit that bugger.. arghh .. lol. seriously.

Chris..
Are you for real? Do you honestly believe no one has the right to judge another's culture? I assume you just love to eat dog? No one with a ounce of sanity would declare such an idiotic opinion.

I will judge ANYONE from ANY culture who abuses animals and eats them. If I had the authority, I would prosecute them for it as well.

By the way, every single human being judges someone or something several times a day, just as you judged the author for her comments..I believe you called the author delusional..

The point of Charoletts Web is that it does promote being kind..TO ANIMALS..don't you get it??
Anyone who LOVES animals, certainly would not be able to beat them to death to eat them, or sell them for food...unless of course they are HEARTLESS and Barbaric.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating animals as food, and here's why. First off, the Bible says animals were put here to be eaten- period. and if you don't believe in God/Jesus, read "the case for christ" (by lee strobel) and then talk. secondly, aside from a few animals the Bible already mentioned were bad for you thousands of years ago, and turned out to be right (pigs, shellfish, bottomfeeders), eating meat is GOOD FOR YOU. Of course, I dont mean only eating meat, like the liberal PETA propaganda machine would have you believe. I mean eating 2-4 servings a day, along with a balanced diet of fruits and veggies and bread and dairy, along with exercise, is the best way to go. without meat, you simply CANNOT be healthy, without artificial protein supplements- and they are proven to often have health complications later in life, and the Bible predicted this too- it says not to put artificial substances into your body.

I WILL, however, agree with you crazed activists on a few points- 1, as a Christian, I know that animals MUST be treated and killed as painlessly and humanely and with as much care as possible to alleviate feeling the pain. until this is accomplished, I wholeheartedly- as a conservative- actually approve of what you guys do. But I must say, that ad you did where you said the pig "died for your sins"- lets not EVEN go there! that was sacreligious to the max, and he died cuz we wanted to eat him, not for our sins. That was Jesus. Find a way to make us care about animals- and we do- WITHOUT blaspheming the ONE PERSON IN HISTORY who lived a sinless life, rose from the dead, and performed miracles, died for us unselfishly, and in short was God on earth... k?

Chris;

Ok, you are calling us "crazed activists" while your up there quoting the fucking bible? Who wrote that bible?
If you believe it was "Jesus or God, PROVE IT".

I think you’re oblivious to the obvious.

I have heard the words before, I believe it was "religious zealot" it is defined as:
A person who has ruined religion by using it for his own personal gain and to make him seem like (s)he's better than non-religious people.

I quite sincerely am not concerned with the bible and additionally, this is not about your religion. It is about the cruelty AND torture of animals, as well as eating animals.

Please....don't make a "religious spin" on the atrocious abuse of animals to suit your religious beliefs and your desire to eat meat. As I have stated before in my posts, it's often "religion" that sparks the abuse of animals and reptiles. You only proved my point.

I think I will take an "uneducated guess" on the pig..The sin would be slaughtering it to eat it?
Make any sense to you?

No one can MAKE you CARE about animals or Love animals..No one can MAKE you have compassion for a defenseless animal. This particular topic is about the dogs and the killing of them, however; baby seals are beaten to death for their fur, minks are slaughtered, as well as foxes..what about elephants being slaughtered for Ivory? You see, this issue is far and wide and doesn't begin nor end with any one particular animal. Did the bible say to beat baby seals to death and use their fur? C'Mon,..you can't even begin to explain away the devastating abuses of animals who aren't even murdered for food..but for MONEY.
I’d rather STARVE to death than to club any animal to death in order to eat it. I think that is called morals, I wonder if that is in the bible too?

This seems a good place to reproduce a mail I recieved a few weeks ago. The incident happened in one of India's premier colleges.

FROM A STUDENT WHO KNEW KALI, THE POOR DOG WHO WAS MURDERED

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls and one such night was Monday when Kali, an eight year old female Indian Street Dog was brutally robbed off her life at JNU Campus, New Delhi

Kali never knew any comforts because eight years ago she was born and raised on the unforgiving streets by a doting mother called Leela that gave birth to her in the bushy interiors near Kaveri Hostel on JNU Campus. They suffered the cold of the winter and the heat of the summer and had little to eat but yet they were happy. Little Kali would often be bullied and stoned by the rogue and rowdy boys of Kaveri hostel yet she never complained and would quickly forget her bruises and tormentors to go foraging with Leela to the nearest dumpster.

Years went by and life was sailing through until a few Naga boys moved into the Kaveri Hostel, an event that would plague Kali's life forever.

The Naga boys had a blatant disregard towards both Kali and Leela and awaited an opportune moment to slice and stew them both for a licentious feast of dog-meat. Thus in the fall of 2006 they executed their intentions by lynching Leela who was an ageing bitch. Leela was ambushed and assaulted till she succumbed to her mortal injuries, the Naga boys were all set to exploit their culinary interests from her carcass but had to abruptly abort as their butchery began to draw crowds. Fearing an uproar, a cover up act ensued jointly authored by the Hostel management and the Naga folks, to silence all eloquence they posthumously labeled Leela falsely as an aggressive dog and justified the gruesome slaughter, hours later Leela's corpse was shoved into a sac and placed near the same dumpster where she and Kali used to go and forage, Kali sat orphaned next to her mother's mutilated corpse until Vatavaran an NGO took the carrion away.

History repeated itself on July 8, 2008 when in the wee hours of the morning i.e. 2 a.m. Yoronso, a 30 year old notorious Naga man pursuing his Ph.D form JNU's School Of Social Science, (Centre for Political Studies) and occupant of Room # 248 Kaveri Hostel invited over two of his friends who spotted Kali sitting near the staircase and instantaneously developed a longing to consume her flesh. To hatch their heinous scheme they lured Kali with a Parle G biscuit to Yoronso's room (Room # 248) and once inside they bolted the room from within, Yoronso then fed Kali some rice that he had gotten from the hostel mess downstairs and once Kali was done having it, he wrapped around Kali's snout two torn "Duppattas". Kali unsuspecting of the crimes that were to take place was busy thanking Yoronso and his friends for that Parle G biscuit and rice dish they let her have but suddenly Yoronso began to bludgeon her with a cricket bat and soon his friends joined in with a curtain rods.

This battering prolonged for almost an hour and when Kali was sufficiently dazed owing to the relentless beating then Yoronso plunged his knife into her and began to sever her while she was still alive, kicking and writhing in agonizing pain and continuing to breathe in ragged gasps as she kept blinking slowly.

Next 20 minutes Yoronso mercilessly dismembered her limb after limb while she still kept alive and mortifyingly watched the horrors and butchery being performed on her. Yoronso's friend then brought a brick and began to smash Kali's skull with that and resultantly Kali succumbed.

The commotion of this sordid crime was enough to shatter the peace of the hostel sending students and wardens scurrying towards the scene of crime. Yoronso and his accomplices were caught red-handed and the bystanders were nauseated to witness the degree of cruelty involved. Some of the students were so overwhelmed to see that enormous pool of blood and Kali's maimed body that they called the Police but the Hostel Wardens were quick to dissuade them and staged another cover up by destroying the evidence i.e. Kali's corpse, murder weapons etc. The Police did arrive but as expected conducted their hallmark slipshod investigations and made no attempt to nab the culprits or secure the prima facie evidence

With the apparent laxity of Police and Wardens the matter would have easily died down had one student not called up Mrs. Maneka Gandhi who then intervened. On learning that Mrs. Gandhi has been informed the warden casually issued a letter to Yoronso asking him to vacate his hostel accommodation. Yoronso is due to submit his Ph.D on 21st July 2008 and was already in the process of vacating his room prior to this tragic event which he perpetrated thus Warden's action can only be termed as adding insult to injury but understandably so because the Wardens at JNU are a cowardly bunch of self-serving narcissists, spineless sycophants who eschew controversy and pathetically ingratiate themselves with administrators and are normalized into silence and conformity in order to win their bid for tenure. So to expect stern action from them is mythical.

I would like to mention here that this is not an isolated incident but a periodical event which recurrently takes place on JNU Campus as demonic north-eastern boys gather amidst a beer induced bravado and haul up street dogs that are later mercilessly decimated and barbecued. Adding to our sequence of grief JNU Administration is consciously aware of these hideous acts and yet they remain inconsiderate.

Ergo, I request one and all to shoot plentiful mails and call on the following numbers so that we can tighten the noose around Yoronso and bring the killers of Leela, Kali and scores of nameless victims to justice because if Yoronso and his accomplices go scot-free then tomorrow this scenario can be replayed in your neighborhood.

Thanx for reading !

Please help us get justice for Kali !

So please flood the phonelines and mailbags if you truly want Yoronso and his accomplices to be suitably punished

Chicku:

BRAVO! Thank you so much for posting that.

Many people do not realize the torture animals go through..or they don't want to because by eating them, they have approved of it.

I will definitely flood their mailbags and flood them with phone calls..just give me a place to start...

Thank you again..

Lisa

Lisa and Chris:
First, I am a Christian, but newsflash I am also an animal lover and active rescuer.
Chris, have you ever been to an asian food market overseas. If not then you might try taking a little vacation to experience life first hand before passing nasty judgements and casting aspersions on people simply because they care about animal causes. I think that you can judge a society by their ability to care for the weakest among them. Fact, dogs are collected and stuffed into baskets, stacked up like cord wood and carried to market where they are dismembered and sold for food. They are also tied out in the "yard" and fattened up in some cases, so one day the person that has been caring for them suddenly attacks them unexpectedly.
Unlike many other animals, dogs clearly demonstate their bond to us humans. They live with us, they greet us as pack members, they guard us from harm, and in turn they trust us. So, Chris, go watch, before you run off about things you clearly haven't made any attempt to learn about. Many of us have been overseas and have experience the horror of seeing a dog set upon by its owner. It is alien to our western culture.

This I found on seriouseats.com from an article in the NYTimes http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/08/no-dog-on-the-menu-in-beijing-china-fuchsia-dunlop.html the first commen is mine. I really didn't think this was still happening. DUH on me.