A state politico in Hawaii wants a bill passed that would ban killing cats and dogs for food — raising howls of protest from Asian groups who believe it’s based on unfounded racial stereotypes.
According to the AP, State Rep. Glenn Wakai, who introduced the measure, apparently feels that when some folks make hot dogs they don’t fool around:
Animal rights groups pushed for the bill’s introduction this month, even though joint investigations last year by the Hawaiian Humane Society and Animal Crimestoppers yielded no proof that anyone uses the pets as food.
State Rep. Glenn Wakai, who introduced the measure, said it is aimed at stemming the growth of a “cottage industry” with the potential to threaten public health. He said news reports last August about dogs being stolen and butchered in some Oahu neighborhoods proves there’s a problem.
Eating dog meat is tolerated in some Asian cultures, but many families from Asia settled in Hawaii generations ago and now consider the practice repugnant.
Why? What could be more delicious than Basset Hound & Bagel, Baked Beagle, Cocker Spaniel Croquettes, with a side dish of Collie-Flower?
Then put some catsup on it — made from real cats — and you have quite a dish. But we digress:
The measure was scheduled for a vote in the House this week, but the state Senate has not scheduled a hearing, Wakai said. It would make it a felony to kill, purchase or distribute any dog or cat for human consumption.
The news reports he cited were based largely on tips from Carroll Cox, president of the local environmental activist group Envirowatch, who said his own undercover investigation found evidence of the practice on Oahu.
But investigations of two of those tips came up empty, said Letha DeCaires, a Honolulu police detective and a coordinator for Animal Crimestoppers, part of the local nonprofit Crimestoppers program.
“Either the Humane Society or the police department followed through with every tip that we had,” DeCaires said. “There was no evidence of slaughterhouse equipment, butchering tools, or anything to substantiate such claims at the time we visited the locations.”
Cox claims the Humane Society mishandled the cases and blew his cover by alerting the media to his investigation. “It is commonplace in Hawaii. It’s a practice that has been known, noted and documented and no one has touched it because it’s a cultural issue,” Cox said.
BURP!
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.