I reply with what I saw and discussed with natives: Typically dog meat consumption is isolated to smaller cities or rural areas. Older generations are more comfortable eating dog meat and younger generations (especially educated individuals) dislike it. Consumption is mostly a factor of social economic status. Anecdotally, while admittedly I most worked in a single city, I did take time to travel to a number of different cities/provinces and not once did I ever see a ???? (Dog meat restaurant).
Actually, if you permit me to give a personal opinion: I find it quite strange that we bias one animal over another for consumption (cow vs dog). I understand the moral connection to pets, but it seems slightly illogical to have one be taboo other the other for consumption. After all they are both animals. Also, it’s interesting that in the UK people turn their nose up at offal, when it seems like a more total and efficient usage of an animals meat.
I’m vegetarian though (which was a complete nightmare in China).
I stopped eating meat after stories last summer highlighted people eating dog at a festival in China.
I was very upset, and mad, but then I asked myself, why was eating dog so upsetting? The dogs eaten in China were much less abused than any animal eaten in the US. We have industrialized the slaughter of animals.
Either I am OK with dogs being eaten, or I am not OK with the industrialized slaughter of every other animal.
I still love the smell of meat. I remember the things I loved to eat, and it's a struggle, but we (many of us at least) live in a world where we don't need to imprison and eat animals to sustain our lives.
With all that said, I don't expect anyone else to feel the same way. We're slaughtering animals constantly, and I don't have any expectation that anyone stop eating animals.
I was only recently acquainted with the idea that there are many people on the internet who become very angry that some people eat dog meat, but do not with say cow meat or pig meat. — I find this rather strange and do not understand this.
Also the quantity and dietary proportion of meat consumed has changed significantly. People may have eaten meat long ago, but it wasn't the staple nor a daily part of the meal for most people.
It's a small minority when considering the entire population of earth. And even then, it doesn't counter the hormones and other components that cause cardiovascular disease, as well as the brutality of dairy farming. I'm sure dog meat is perfectly fine to eat for most humans.
The problem is that people in the US (and really most of the western world) have grown up eating meat, been told that they should desire meat, that meat is an essential part of their diet and, to a certain extent, that not eating meat is unmanly and weak.
Meat consumption is so ingrained that any attempt to curtail it is met with fierce opposition, because people feel as if it's an attack on their identity.
You should've spent more time sourcing that last claim, considering it was by and large the most bold one.
Furthermore, whilst it may not be obvious in activist circles, seeing the topic was about eating animal produce, the obvious counterpart in hunting would be game animals, and not a sport (which fox hunting is, more or less). My (unsourced) guess would be that most non-vegetarians do not condemn hunting, and it would also be a somewhat hypocritical stance. Furthermore, meat consumption isn't exactly on declining in the world, but you can make your own conclusions about that.
(I'm a city dweller, and haven't hunted anything in my life. I'm not saying that to validate my opinion, but regardless I know quite a bit about the realities of hunting that probably apply to most places, and the reason it is in decline may well not be because of a shift in the moral landscape. It is a consuming hobby, but that doesn't in itself imply that all non-hunters would automatically start to disapprove it more and more.)
This is called "sustenance". They are not your pets. You treat the animals well because they literally feed you through the cold months. People don't understand that in many parts of the world not eating meat is a huge luxury.
It's typically a North American - or sometimes Western European problem. As people become more lonely, they rely more on their companion pets. But ignore the obvious contradiction that they eat pigs, chickens or cows each day.
I'm not sure anyone else really worries about it from what I've seen, having traveled around.
To anecdotally confirm what you said: There was a "scandal" in Germany last year where a school slaughtered and barbecued a hare. (Students were around 10/11 years old) Parents were outraged, basically arguing 'it should be everyone's choice to either know or ignore where meat comes from'.
What is weird is that they know what meat is, and don't like it. Like they have meat pests they can't get rid of, or depend on in some unpleasant way they would rather not think about.
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