Chinese cats skinned and cooked alive; activists outraged

I'm sure there are some people out there who truly believe that if you take a baby seal and beat it to death with a club in front of it's mother....that makes the meat of the mother seal tast better! Yum!

"Don't know, but something about watching yer young getting beaten to death in fron of yer eyes makes the meat especially tender when you boil'em alive!"

Well, be that as it may it's still a pretty cruel thing to do, isn't it?

This really isn't about eating meat or not eating meat -- it's about how we treat the animals BEFORE they are eaten and how humanely they are killed.

Burning a cat to death for 4 hrs using a cigar to give it a "smokey flavor" is cruel.

Arguing that eating meat is a "right" or that cigar burning a cat is a honored "cultural tradition" doesn't negate the cruelty.

Bear baiting is a time honored cultural tradition too, but it's also universally condemned as cruel.

Sometimes you just have to drag cultures kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

China may be one of those country.

I expect to see anyone up in arms over this on the news picketing fast food restaurants such as KFC and Popye's over how chickens are slaughtered. at Hungry Jack's/Burger King and Maccer's over cows and every seafood restaurant over the fact that rock-shrimp and lobsters are boiled alive.

Cruelty against chickens is increasing in Texas, USA, where over 20,000 chickens are eaten daily. The chickens, some of which are apparently reared in people’s houses, are transported in small cages to restaurants in the town where they are then cooked.

Activists in Texas are taking a stronger stance against this cruelty, and have begun demonstrating in Austin against the treatment of chickens used for food. 40 people, many of them new age hippies who care for orphaned chickens, protested outside of the Restaurant authority in Austin.

A butcher from the city plans to continue using chicken meat as the main ingredient in the region’s famous soup, which also includes pork and beef. She blew the protests off, saying “Chicken has a strong flavor.” The animals are likely to continue being used as food, as the Americans, and the Texans in particular, are known for their stubborn taste buds.

I'm a vegetarian, but I don't think they should have to stop eating cats. Stealing them out of people's homes and preparing them cruelly, though, is unecessary and should be stopped.

There is no need to skin a cat alive.

There is no need to cook any animal alive.

Some people are saying that those of disgusted by that behaviour are "hating" on the poor Chinese.

Yes! And we are right too!

Sorry, but there comes a point where cultural relativism gives way to universal humanity.

Torturing animals (boiling alive, skinning alive) is universally bad.

It would be just as bad if Japan did, or Canada or Britan.

So, no, China does not get a free pass on inhumane behavior towards animals because they are a) poorer than us or b) simply have a different culture.

It's not only china or other far-away places.

I had a friend from Louisiana who told me that "cat skins make the best banjos" -- he said it was because their skin was nice and stretchy.

And are violin strings really made of 'cat gut'?

I'm sure that the rest of these Italian and Louisiana cats did not go to waste.

I don't approve but whats the difference between eating a cow or eating a cat?

I don't hear any outrage about eating sushi in japan...

not to belittle the story, but while we shift to the next "major news thingy," (cats apparently) people are still dying horribly all around the world.

but yes, the way a nation eats certainly merits the same attention as say...genocide

(grump grump grump)

I completely understand other cultures need to eat cats and dogs. What I do not understand is why it has to be done so cruelly?

I call B.S. based on news source.

I'm a cat person. Jasmine, my latest cat, she's a carnivore. I'm a omnivore. My son is a vegetarian and his girlfriend is a vegan. We all get along.

Intolerance for other cultures is still intolerance.

The Chinese eat cats and dogs because they have fewer protein sources than we do in America.

Do we hate them for that? Or help them join the global market?

Hint:
Hate, is easy.

Good question. There are definitely some cultural differences between different countries and the foods we eat. We see cats and dogs as pets, or mans and womans best friend. China may see them as a food source. But being cooked alive is not cool at all.

Just think of India, and the "Sacred Cow" what do they think of the U.S. beef industry?

Cruelty is pain and suffering.

Death is inevitable and does not necessarily mean pain or suffering.

Stealing pets, though, is pretty bad stuff. Stuffing in cages. Being skinned alive is major pain and suffering.

Bad stuff. Gives us honest carnivores a bad name.