Doggy meat: Very first Cambodian province bans sale and use

A province in Cambodia has turn into the first in the place to ban the sale and consumption of dog meat.

Siem Reap is best recognized as the home of the Angkor Wat temple sophisticated, but an animal legal rights team states the area had grow to be a “hub” for the trade.

The new ban will involve punishments of up to five a long time in jail or fines of concerning 7 and 50 million riel ($12,200 £7,940), AFP stories.

The decision follows very similar moves in other areas of Asia in current months.

• India state’s pet meat ban hailed as ‘turning point’
• Chinese city bans the ingesting of cats and canines

The intake of canine meat is not prevalent in Cambodia, with less than 12% of individuals having it on a standard foundation, in accordance to animal legal rights charity Four Paws. But the organisation determined Siem Experience province as a “vital incredibly hot spot” in the trade.

The director of Siem Reap’s department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Tea Kimsoth, explained to Reuters news agency that tourism had led to a development in desire for pet meat in the area.

“Pet dog meat has been a ton more well known pursuing the arrivals of foreigners, specifically amongst the (South) Koreans,” he stated.

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The charity Four Paws welcomed the ban.

“We hope that Siem Enjoy will provide as a model for the relaxation of the country to abide by go well with to shield the lives of hundreds of thousands of pet dogs,” Dr Katherine Polak, the charity’s head in south-east Asia, said.

In accordance to the Humane Society International (HSI), 30 million dogs are killed for meat throughout Asia just about every yr.

In April, Shenzhen turned the initial town in China to ban consuming cats and pet dogs, while India’s north-japanese state of Nagaland outlawed the import, trade and sale of puppy meat earlier this month.