Bernard E. Rollin, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University

United States of America

I have written something like 50 commentaries on videos of animal abuse in research, agriculture, “entertainment,” education, and the like. But this video of the dog slaughterhouse is without a doubt the worst, most horrifying and most  evil footage I have ever witnessed.

In many cases, the animals being cut up are alive and aware. Most horrendous is the fact that in China, as well as in North America and Europe, dogs are pets and companions. Yet no concern or respect for the animals is evidenced. The bond between humans and dogs is treated with total contempt, even allowing for the fact that some Chinese people do in fact eat dogs. The physical plant where the killing takes place is dark, dirty, and horrible. The people working there seem totally unaffected by what they are doing.

If  the psychological insight first articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas, that those who abuse animals will graduate to people, as modern psychology suggests, I would not wish to meet any of those slaughter workers in a dark alley.

Lorelei wakefiled

VETERINARIAN

United States of America

Vocalization indicates some level of consciousness, and in this case pain.
Intermittently workmen throw buckets of water on the blood-splattered floor. When this water splashes on the bleeding and dying dogs, some rouse and move or convulse. Dogs are handled very roughly, with a rabies pole initially and then thrown around by the legs. A cage in the killing room contains live dogs. One dog sitting up looks out at the terrifying acts occurring just a few feet before him. This must be extraordinarily frightening for the poor animal.

As domesticated animals, dogs befriend and trust humans. Capture and slaughter of dogs for human food is a betrayal of these loyal companions. Even if dog meat consumption were somehow condoned, this slaughterhouse is crude and cruelly inhumane.

Dr. Katherine van Ekert

President, Sentient – The Veterinary Institute for Animal Ethics

Australia

Dogs profiled demonstrated marked, generalised skin pathology including alopecia (hair loss), hyperkeratosis (thickening of the skin), and hyperpigmentation (excess deposits of pigment within skin tissue). Such skin changes are characteristic of chronic skin disease, most commonly related to readily-treatable disease such as external parasites (for example, scabies mite, demodex mite, and fleas) and associated bacterial and yeast infections. Skin can become a source of chronic pain, chronic pruritis (itchiness), and can lead to reduced immune function.

One dog was shown to struggle against the pole and vocalise, it’s experience of stress and threat being later heightened when a torch was shone into its face.

Two dogs were shown to be sitting in a cage within a couple of feet adjacent to one of the employees as he was dehiring other recently slaughtered dogs. The dogs were exposed to significant stressors including the unfamiliar sound of the blade being used in the dehiring process, the sight, and smell of blood of slaughtered conspecifics. Both dogs appeared completely unreactive with downcast gazes. One of the dogs briefly glanced towards the direction of the aforementioned employee and then returned to a downcast gaze. Their lack of locomotive or vocal responses and their despondent gazes are consistent with learned helplessness.

Professor Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Author: Bestselling author of 9 books on the emotional life of animals

New Zealand

I’m sorry, I simply could not watch this, I know that is terrible, but I love dogs so much it is unbearable to watch them being killed.  It would be like watching children being murdered.  I simply cannot do it.  All I can say is this:  Dogs have been living with humans for possibly the last 50,000 years, indeed, since the very beginning of our becoming a distinct species.  We have bonded with them as we have with no other animal on the planet.  To kill them, to murder them, to slaughter them is the most loathsome betrayal of friendship that can possibly exist.  Everyone involved should be deeply ashamed.

Dr. Erika Sullivan

Veterinarian

Canada

These animals were intentionally abused, injured, mauled and killed with inhumane methods. Clubs, kicks with the foot, and jugular laceration with knives resulted in slow painful deaths for the dogs featured in this film. No attempt to provide proper housing, cramped cages with jagged edges of barbed wire displayed an obvious health hazard, and the animals were merely discarded in a pile, like waste at a trash dump. Although dogs can’t “speak” the way humans can, there is no excuse to merely inflict such cruelty. I am truly disgusted.

Andrew Knight BSc., BVMS, CertAW, PhD, MRCVS, FOCAE

Veterinarian, Bioethicist and Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics

United Kingdom

The enclosures these dogs were confined within were grossly overcrowded and poorly maintained. The method of killing used was shockingly cruel. After being beaten with a crude wooden club in an apparent attempt to induce unconsciousness, the major arteries in the throat were cut by what appeared to be a dirty knife.

The dogs were then suspended by a hind leg, and bled to death. Unfortunately however, most of the dogs filmed recovered consciousness either while their throats were cut open, or once they were unceremoniously thrown onto a pile of bodies nearby. These dogs would clearly have endured enormous pain and fear before death released them. Some were seen struggling desperately for survival. The whole procedure was watched by other clearly fearful dogs in a cage very close by, further demonstrating the absolute callousness of the slaughtering process.

Armati May

VETERINARIAN

United States of America

I was deeply appalled to find such horrifying cruelty towards the dogs in the video provided to me. The dogs are seen being dragged by a noose around their necks into an area where they are subsequently beaten and then have their throats slit while they are still fully conscious. A man is observed stomping on the neck of a dog, and then slitting the dog’s throat with a knife. No stunning procedure nor anesthesia is utilized prior to this violent and painful throat slitting. The man is then seen picking up the dog by one of his hind legs while the blood drains from the dog’s carotid arteries and jugular veins. While the dog is suspended in mid-air by one of his hind legs, the dog is desperately flailing about, clearly experiencing severe pain and distress. After having their throats slit, the dogs’ bodies are tossed carelessly to another area where they continue to struggle and gasp for air until their last breath.

This is a horribly cruel and painful death to subject these animals to and is a flagrant, egregious violation of the most basic animal welfare standards.
The dog meat trade claims the lives of 10 million dogs each year, inflicting great suffering on these animals who are meant to be companions, not slaughtered for meat and fur. This is absolutely inexcusable. We owe it to them to treat them with dignity and respect in a civilized society.