A Kaohsiung City Government official yesterday confirmed reports that some businesses were reportedly offering dog meat delivery services.
Bureau of Economic Development Director Liu Hsin-cheng (劉馨正) told reporters that police and the Kaohsiung Municipal Institute for Animal Health had received information from the Kaohsiung Concern Stray Animal Association (KCSAA) that a lamb hot pot store was selling dog meat.
Liu said institute personnel and police seized suspected dog meat products last Friday after the store delivered the meat to an association volunteer posing as a customer.
Institute director Chu Chia-te (朱家德) said the store owner denied selling dog meat, although he and his wife had been fined for selling dog meat on two previous occasions.
“I could tell it was dog meat as soon as I saw it,” Chu said.
The Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) bars anyone from killing dogs and cats and selling their bodies. Violators can be fined between NT$50,000 and NT$250,000.
Liu said many stores or stalls that sold dog meat had been forced to sell their products under the table or get out of the business since the city started to clamp down on such sales a few years ago.
The KCSAA said on its Facebook page it suspected slaughterhouses were supplying the store and other businesses with dog and cat meat. The city government said it would launch an investigation into the sources of the meat, the association said.
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