Australia’s first butcher to sell horse meat said he had received death threats and over 2,000 abusive emails, but that customers were delighted they could now buy horse steaks.
Perth butcher Vince Garreffa became the nation’s first legal retailer of horse meat last week after years of campaigning to get a long-standing ban lifted.
“(There) were only two that brought fear to me,” he told AFP between serving customers, saying “the threats could be the work of a couple of over-passionate animal liberationists or pet lovers”.
One threat had been so alarming he said he had referred it to the authorities. Police said they were not able to comment.
Garreffa said his butcher shop sells “probably every meat you can imagine that is legal,” and put much of the opposition down to ignorance.
“The moment I remind (opponents) that Australia has been selling 50,000 to 70,000 horses a year to the rest of the world for human consumption, 95 percent of them fall over backwards and die of shock and are so embarrassed that they didn’t know their facts.”
Government data says that between 30,000 and 40,000 horses are slaughtered every year for export in Australia.
Garreffa vowed to push on with the practice, which he said was simply responding to community demand.
“The European clients I have got that have been in Australia for anything from 50, 40, 30, 20 years, they are so desperate for a taste of home,” he said.
The consumption of horse meat is popular in parts of Asia and Europe, including France, Belgium, and some Central Asian countries.(AFP)
澳洲第一位販賣馬肉的肉商表示，除了遭受死亡威脅，他還接到兩千多封辱罵的電子郵件，不過消費者很高興終於可以買到「馬排」了。
多年來積極鼓吹解除馬肉禁令的伯斯肉商文斯•葛瑞法，上週成為澳洲第一位合法販賣馬肉的零售商。
他一面服務客人一面向法新社表示：「其中只有兩則讓我感到害怕。威脅我的可能是幾個過分狂熱的動物解放主義份子或寵物愛好者。」
他表示，一則威脅著實令人恐慌，他已報請有關當局處理。對此，警方表示無可奉告。
葛瑞法說，他肉舖裡賣的「每一塊肉都是合法的」，而會有那麼多反彈是因為無知。
「容我提醒（反對人士），澳洲每年外銷到世界各地供作食材的馬匹有五到七萬頭，百分之九十五的人對此感到震驚，也為自己不瞭解事實情況覺得尷尬。」
政府資料顯示，澳洲每年都屠宰三、四萬匹馬供應出口。
葛瑞法說，他誓言推動馬肉開放只是為了回應社區需求。
他說：「我的歐洲客人來此生活了二十到五十年不等，他們非常想念家鄉口味。」
食用馬肉的習慣在包括法國、比利時和中亞某些國家在內的歐亞部分地區十分盛行。（法新社╱翻譯：林倩如）
A: Hard rock band Guns N’ Roses is touring Taiwan tomorrow. What about pop diva Lady Gaga? B: Unfortunately, Singapore has once again exclusively secured Gaga’s concerts in Asia, just like Taylor Swift’s exclusive Asian shows last year. A: The Singaporean government reportedly paid up to US$2.2 million to secure Swift’s shows. B: And the shows did boost its economy and tourism. A: But I’m angry about this approach, so I’m not going to Gaga’s shows this time. A: 硬式搖滾天團槍與玫瑰明天即將來台，流行天后女神卡卡呢？ B: 真可惜，新加坡再度取得卡卡亞洲巡演的獨家主辦權，就像去年泰勒絲的亞洲獨家演出一樣。 A: 據報導新加坡政府付出高達220萬美元，取得泰勒絲的亞洲獨家主辦權。 B: 而她的秀也的確提振了該國的經濟和旅遊業。 A: 但我對此還是很不爽，所以不去新加坡看卡卡了！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
A: Hard rock band Guns N’ Roses and pop diva Lady Gaga are finally touring Asia again. B: Are they also coming to Taiwan? A: The band will stage a show at the Taoyuan Sunlight Arena on Saturday. B: Wow, so this will be the band’s third visit. I really love its 1992 power ballad “November Rain.” The nine-minute hit was the Billboard chart’s longest song at one point. A: Let’s go celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release. A: 硬式搖滾天團槍與玫瑰、女神卡卡終於再度展開亞洲巡演了。 B: 他們也會來台巡演嗎？ A: 槍與玫瑰本週六即將在桃園陽光劇場開唱唷。 B: 哇這將是該團第三次來台演出，我超愛他們1992年強力情歌《November Rain》，全長近9分鐘還曾是告示牌排行榜最長神曲。 A: 那我們一起去慶祝該團出道40週年吧！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
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