Poverty plays an important role in the dog meat industry. Now, Chan has been given a chance to build up a new existence without suffering. The animal welfare organisation bought Chan a rice field - he will never kill another dog again.
Please also read An emotional moment, for reasons hard to believe.
The emotional moment, when Chan apologised tearfully to the remaining
dogs, can hardly be put into words.
When ‘FOUR PAWS’ invites journalists to accompany an international rescue
mission, it is rarely for a pleasant topic. This time was no exception. The
trade of dog meat and the visit of the corresponding slaughterhouses in
Cambodia is the kind of press trip that no one in our medium is interested
in. Many colleagues warned me; others admired me for my courage to face the
terrible pictures and to enlighten about the fate of thousands of
four-legged friends who end up on plates after great suffering.
I had to take the courage to stand by and watch helplessly. Already the
first five minutes of our mission tested my limits. When i left the car, my
first gaze fell on a dog hanging from a gallow, fighting for his life. It
felt like an eternity until the light of life left the poor animal. In that
exact moment, it seemed like the other dogs squeezed into cages realised
what was going to happen. With a cramping stomach and a throbbing heart, I
held on to the camera - after all, this is my job as a journalist - but even
while I took their pictures, it was clear to me that these pictures could
not be shown to anyone.
The first shock was followed by more. What happens to the dogs in this
industry doesn't even deserve the term ‘keeping’. The most popular killing
methods are drowning, hanging, beating to death or stabbing. Rarely does a
dog get away without any death struggle, some of them are even still alive
when they go into the boiling water. On the ground are bloodstains
everywhere, in the air stench and flies, beside the slaughterhouses sacks
full of scraped off dog fur - a true nightmare in a holiday paradise.
Despite all this, I would always decide to accompany a FOUR PAWS mission
again. All of these atrocities must be shown to the world. The overwhelming
feelings should be written down on paper, to bring my readers on board, and
together, achieve the impossible.
Part of the mission was to visit Kheav Chan, who has slaughtered dogs for
years to bring his family through. Poverty plays an important role in this
industry. However, now, Chan has been given a chance to build up a new
existence without suffering. The animal welfare organisation bought Chan a
rice field - he will never kill another dog again.
The emotional moment, when Chan apologised tearfully to the remaining dogs,
can hardly be put into words. It is also wonderful to see how the man
proudly showed us around his new piece of land, where he will soon be
growing rice and selling water from a well.
At the same time as animal welfare, human protection must take place; and
FOUR PAWS understood this a long time ago. Taking the livelihood of a poor
man without creating alternatives will not have any lasting effects. The
trade of dog meat in Cambodia is also a health threat for the population -
there are high rabies rates, little knowledge about how to recognise it, and
how to avoid infection. There needs to be education instead of accusation,
discussions with business and politics and precaution in the form of
castrations and vaccinations for both owned and stray dogs.
We were allowed to take the ten remaining dogs of Kheav Chan with us and
give them a second chance in life – just a dent in this horriffying trade,
but nevertheless, balm for the soul. Now, these dogs are being well cared
for; they are being rehabilitated and given a safe place to stay. I am
looking forward to staying informed about their destiny.
Denise Zöhrer, Editor at the ‘Krone Tierecke’ has been working for the Kronen Zeitung for twelve years, writing print, online and social media articles for their animal welfare department. She has accompanied our work in a dog slaughterhouse in Cambodia and has written down her experiences in the Kronen Zeitung and for our blog.
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