Living in Malaysia: It's Not Just a Pet It's a Meal

It's Not Just a Pet; It's a Meal
I am Chinese but I lived in Malaysia during my childhood. I have heard my parents talk about Chinese dog meat cultures, but we do not largely practice them. I remember in middle school, my parents requested that we visit China and meet our relatives. They were taking time off their work to help them relax and explore the world. I was glad that I would meet new friends, get to know some of my distant relatives and visit new places. I was fascinated by the high number of people I saw in Beijing because I had expected a smaller number just like here in the Malaysia.
We traveled upcountry through a train, one day after jetting into Beijing. My father came from the northern province of Liaoning and this is where we first landed. The first impression was fascinating; I saw young men riding motorcycles with cages full of dogs. I asked my father, "Dad, what is wrong with these young men? Look they are transporting caged dogs, and no one seems to care." My father laughed lightly and then responded, "Do you remember your mother telling you about dog-eating culture? We are in the Yulin Dog-eating festival, and that is why they are transporting the dogs for slaughter." I immediately remembered my mother sharing about the dog-eating culture in some parts of China and all along I had thought it was a joke. "I think I want to see them slaughtering the dogs," I told my father. He (my father) is a calm man who enjoys it when I explore things and learn by my own. It was, therefore, clear to me that he would introduce me to the place to help me learn about the culture and to see it practically being practiced.
The men did not care about the barking of the dogs as they transported them but I believe they were motivated by the fact that they would make meat or even money out of it. My father walked me to a slaughter house outside of which were several motorcycles with empty cages were packed. We stood near the door, and my father said, "Now look and see what happens." I watched a butcher hit the dogs as they exit the cages on the head and this I later learned was a strategy to kill them. He would then hang the dog on ropes specially placed and which allowed him to peel off the skin of the animal at his comfort. Bearing in mind the environment I am exposed to here in the Malaysia, where people walk around with their dogs, and they use them as pets, I felt somewhat emotional and angry. I then developed a bad feeling and almost puked as thoughts of the meat being cooked and consumed hit me. Suddenly, my father walked inside the slaughterhouse and signaled me, "Come!" I followed him, and he pointed to a container. I looked and almost backed off because the container was half full with slaughtered dogs. They had their skin and part of their stomach components removed leaving the skeleton or rather the body intact. The people working in the slaughterhouse did not appear to have any feelings as they quickly slaughtered the dogs one after the other without giving attention to the activities in the slaughter house.
The experience of seeing the slaughtering created an urge in me to want to see more about dog meat preparation. From the slaughterhouse, we walked through a market where business people were negotiating the prices ...