| Cambodia The following article was reported by Sky News on 11th September 2003. DINERS GO TO THE DOGS Cambodians are being urged to eat more dogs as part of a crackdown on strays. Dogs, along with spiders, beetles and crickets, are regularly found on menus in deeply impoverished rural areas of the country. But eating them is frowned upon in the relative sophistication of the capital, Phnom Penh. City governor Kep Chuktema is drawing up a policy to control the growing problem of pavement-fouling strays. Mr Kep said city-dwellers should throw off their traditional snootiness towards dining on man's best friend. "Come on, dog meat is so delicious. The Vietnamese and Koreans love to eat dog meat," he said. "Cambodians don't have wine, but poor people can enjoy their dog meat with palm juice." Until now, Phnom Penh dog lovers have had to keep their tastes under wraps. They have had to ask for the "special" or "jogging cow meat" when ordering in restaurants. Whilst we can understand the need of starving, impoverished people to eat anything that moves, we cannot accept the promotion of dog eating as an alternative to humane methods of dealing with stray over-population. Cambodians in the more affluent Phnom Penh object to eating dogs (albeit for cultural rather than humanitarian reasons) and we sincerely hope that they will not be swayed by the cynical words of this politician. More recently, the following was reported by the South African Press Association (11/05/05). In this report the dog killer was murdered, not because he was killing people's pets, but because he was stealing their property. The police clearly consider investigating his death to be far too much of an effort, an indication of the value of any life still in Pol Pot's legacy of Cambodia. Phnom Penh - A Cambodian dog thief who gave up his family rather than stop stealing dogs was beaten to death by a mob of angry neighbours, after authorities failed to persuade him to change his pooch-purloining ways, police said on Wednesday. District police chief of Prey Kabbas in southern Takeo district, Chum Chhoeun, said Bun Rin, 35, had become famous in the area as a serial dognapper. To the chagrin of local villagers, he had failed to change his ways even after 10 arrests and separation from his wife, a dog meat vendor, who had been the original market for his victims. "He was known as a very professional thief. He stole chickens, pigs and dogs, but he stole dogs, in particular, day and night, and it seems his neighbours lost patience and a mob beat him to death," Chum Chhoeun told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone. "Before this happened, we arrested him at least 10 times and educated him not to do like this, but the charges were too small to hold him, and as soon as he was out, he would start again." Rin became so famous for his professional and prolific thieving of local canines for the dog-meat trade that he was dubbed "the king of dog thieves" by local media. Chhoeun said the atmosphere was tense in Thmei village, where the fatal beating took place just before midnight on May 5, but the police were unlikely to arrest a suspect. "It is hard for us. The people accused us of inaction, and now if we are tough there will be confrontation. Anyway, police cannot name the exact killer because there were so many people in the mob," he said. He said Rin, the father of one seven-year-old boy, had been so addicted to his trade and the lifestyle that went with it that he had ignored his family's warnings to stop and eventually forsaken them altogether. "Even after he split from his wife, who sells dog meat, he continued and just sold the dogs to others. Even his parents were tired of him," Choeun said. "He stole dogs not to be rich, but for money to buy drink and to feed lady friends." |