Letters to the Editor
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Salon's Olympic Cultural Intolerance
Give me a break! Sure the author points out that consuming dogs and cats is simply a cultural difference that we should be tolerant of but then proceeds to talk about the cruelty of the practice anyway. He points to an example documented cruelty in the treatment of dogs and cats and I don't doubt that such practices may be wide-spread but how does this compare to our own treatment of meat animals that are forced to wallow in their own shit before being slaughtered and sometimes, as we have recently learned, subjected to treatment just as cruel as the documented evidence he cites.
If cruelty to food dogs and cats in China is widespread then the international community should pressure China to institute regulations on the treatment of dogs and cats but pushing for an outright ban is culturally insensitive. But maybe before we even go there, we ought to clean our own house first!

