A HONG Kong woman was convicted of
butchering a dog for food - a practice outlawed by
the old British colonial government even though
the meat is considered a delicacy by many Chinese,
newspapers reported today.
Defendant Chan
Yuk-sim, 44, claimed that she saw a "primitive
man" cutting up the dog in a hilly area of Hong
Kong, but Eastern Court Magistrate Julia Livesey
did not believe Chan's story and found her guilty
yesterday, the South China Morning Post reported.
Chan was fined $HK1500 Hong Kong
dollars ($265), according to accounts in the Post
and the Ming Pao Daily News. The Post said Chan's
conviction was the first such case here since
1999.
Chan testified that she saw two men
removing the hair from a dog on February 8 and she
stopped to watch because "I had never seen dogs
being slaughtered," the Post said.
The story quoted her as saying: "The
older man looked like a primitive man."
Ming Pao reported that Chan and
the two men tried to escape when police found out
about the dog slaughter, but only Chan was
captured and charged. The judge found that Chan
had been in possession of the dog carcass to use
it for food.
Ming Pao said police found the dog,
beheaded and its body shaved, floating in a
plastic bucket of hot water. Officers also found
water being boiled in a wok over a stove made of
bricks, a chopping knife, a knife sharpener, a
chopping board and Chinese spices.
Although many Chinese enjoy dog
meat, slaughtering and eating dogs and cats was
banned decades ago by the British in an ordinance
that is still on the books in Hong Kong.
The Associated Press rang the Hong
Kong Judiciary asking about the case, but a
spokeswoman had no immediate information.
