"It's Their Destiny"
 
News items on Asian animal abuse 
 
19th October 2003 
 
Victoria (Australia) bans dog & cat meat
 
Dear Friends
 
The following was reported by news.com.au (Australia) on 15/10/03.
 
'Vics to finally ban eating pets
'By Charisse Ede
'October 15, 2003

'EATING cats and dogs will be banned under new laws in Victoria, after reports someone bought a puppy with their next meal in mind.

'The legislation, introduced in the Victorian parliament today, came after reports last year that a person had purchased a puppy intending to eat it.

'The government has also revealed it receives periodical reports of the consumption of cats and dogs.

'But while Agriculture Minister Bob Cameron said there was no evidence suggesting the practice was common in Victoria, there was a need to tighten the law.

'"Most Victorians find the practice of killing cats and dogs for human consumption abhorrent," he said.

'"These measures will tighten up protection of animals and eliminate loopholes in the existing legislation."

'The amendment will ban any person from slaughtering for human consumption dogs, cats or any other animal not defined under the Meat Industry Act as "consumable".'
Whilst the Victorian Government realises that the practice of dog and cat eating is neither widespread nor commonplace, it has had the guts to recognise that this "custom" has been imported along with the Asian immigrants who have developed a taste for this meat.
 
We despise racism. We do not however consider eating dogs and cats to be "cultural heritage". Asians are welcome as immigrants in any western country, but we don't consider it unreasonable that they should be expected to respect our customs and traditions, within which dog and cat eating are NOT included. We applaud and congratulate the Victorians for having the balls to tackle this issue by closing legal loopholes that allowed dog and cat eating, simply because such laws had never been needed before.
 
Although Victoria could have acted more quickly over this issue, its passing of this legislation is in stark contrast to that of the British Govt's stance on the import of dog and cat fur, i.e. "prove that there's a widespread problem and we might consider legislation."
 
The UK could learn a lot from Victoria's example.
 
Our continued thanks to all of you for your support and for caring enough to try to make a difference.
 
From all the team at ITD
 
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