"Farm me, will ya? Cage
me, will ya? Do it. Eat me.
See what it gets ya!"
Posted on 05/23/2003 7:13:30 AM PDT by dead
Civet cats, now suspected of being at the center of the global SARS outbreak, have long been considered exotic cuisine for those with adventurous taste buds in southern China's Guangdong province.
The mammals with cat-like bodies, long tails and weasel-like faces are regular captives in live animal markets, such as the Hua Nan Wild Animal Market in Guangzhou, and are prized dishes in wildlife restaurants.
Crammed into small cages with not enough room to stretch their legs, the furry creatures are dragged out and beaten to death in front of customers to ensure freshness when buyers order one up.
They are then dunked into a huge pot of boiling water and if the animals are still not dead after being boiled, the vendors throw them to the ground and club them some more until they no longer move.
Then the creatures are skinned and chopped into pieces and put in a bag to be taken to restaurants or home where they usually await guests at large fancy banquets.
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) said Friday the coronavirus which causes SARS has been traced to civet cats, hailing the finding as a major breakthrough in the fight against the disease.
Some of the first victims of SARS in Guangdong province, where the SARS outbreak started in November, were chefs or people who had contact with animals, but World Health Organisation officials who visited Guangdong in April said they had no conclusive evidence that SARS was linked to animals.
Wild animal markets have been allowed to exists for years. While the government periodically cracks down on the sale of endangered species there, it has largely turned a blind eye to the conditions.
Cries and wails from the animals fill the markets, which are located in central parts of the city, not far from residential districts.
Besides civets, a stew of domestic, wild and endangered species can be found there, including dogs, cats, masked palm civets, ferret badgers, barking deer, wild boars, hedgehogs, foxes, squirrels, bamboo rats, various species of snakes, gerbils, giant tortoises, cranes and endangered leopard cats.
The animal rights group, Animals Asia Foundation, said in a statement this month that despite recent efforts by the Chinese government to ban the sale of wild animals in markets throughout the country as a temporary measure against SARS, it has found clear evidence of traders ignoring these regulations.
The Hua Nan market, for example, was found putting animals openly on sale last week.
Many of the animals showed bloody stumps, where their limbs had been severed in leg-hold traps in the wild.
The Foundation and others urged China to immediately shut down the markets.
The markets, where all species are held together in unnaturally close concentration under tremendous stress, are a potential breeding ground for new and deadly strains of disease, said Animals Asia Veterinary Director Gail Cochrane.
"Even if the SARS virus did not evolve from animals in the markets, the conditions present an ideal environment in which other unknown or new viruses may incubate and emerge," Cochrane said.
"The only way to minimise the threat of new viruses being transmitted is to close the markets down."
AFP
Feh! That's why I stick with Beef. Its safe...
...oh wait...nevermind!
"Farm me, will ya? Cage
me, will ya? Do it. Eat me.
See what it gets ya!"
Looks more like a muskrat or possum.
Note that they're citing evidence of linkage that a university produced just last Friday, but have been conducting their campaign against the practice for the last month.
Either the animal rights activists conducted their own medical research that the university just confirmed, or the animal rights people decided to link SARS to this practice and then scoured the globe looking for anybody who could establish some flimsy connection. I'm betting the latter, of course.
They are then dunked into a huge pot of boiling water and if the animals are still not dead after being boiled, the vendors throw them to the ground and club them some more until they no longer move.
Then the creatures are skinned and chopped into pieces and put in a bag to be taken to restaurants or home where they usually await guests at large fancy banquets.
Any chance this reporter is from PETA??
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