Province campaigns against dining on dog meat

BANGKOK (AFP): A province in northeastern Thailand is asking local folks to treat dogs more like man’s best friend — and less like their breakfast. “Sakhon Nakhon province is now launching a campaign…to reduce consumption of dog meat,” announced the local provincial government earlier today. Officials are organizing trade fairs to urge people to switch to other sources of protein, such as beef and fish. They are also trying to counter a belief among elderly people in the area that dog meat confers various health benefits. “Consumption [of dog meat] is done openly, and the people here are familiar with the sight of people eating it,” said Sakhon Nakhon public relations officer Ruksit Wadhayotha. “A lot of older people eat it in the same way that we eat beef,” he added. In February, residents of Buri Ram, another northeastern province, tried to fight leptospirosis, a deadly bacterial infection passed from animals to people, by eating the rats they blamed for spreading it.