You can listen to the audio from this talk here: https://archive.org/details/AnimalsChina
Abstract:
There is a growing animal advocacy movement in China, which has occurred alongside a rising middle class and increasing Westernisation. Recently, Chinese animal activists forced a truck filled with dogs on their way to slaughter off the road and rescued the dogs. In the Western world, this has been cited as an example of growing concern for non-human animals in China. While this is a legitimate way in which to view this event, there are other frames which tell a different story. It can also be viewed through the lens of class and Westernisation. Those carrying out this rescue did so in a Mercedes-Benz, on the way to a hotel resort. The rescue of the dogs can be linked to the growing middle-class in China, who have increasingly being influenced by Western lifestyles including living with companion animals, and values about which animals are deemed food and which ones are not. Owning dogs as companion animals compared to eating them as food increasingly marks divides in China, along divides such as poor versus rich and urban versus rural. This presentation will explore these conflicts, as well as suggesting some implications for animal advocacy in the West.
This talk was recorded at The Australian Sociological Association 2016 conference. You can hear more talks from this conference here: https://soundcloud.com/australian-sociology-tasa
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Nick Pendergrast. Rescuing Dogs in a Mercedes-Benz: Animal Advocacy in China
1. Rescuing Dogs in a Mercedes-
Benzes: Animal Advocacy in China
Nick Pendergrast
2. Chinese Dog Slaughter
Framing.
HSUS: ‘surge of compassion’.
Wrenn (India):
The influence of Western lifestyles has
dramatically increased pet ownership.
Same in China.
Growing middle class = more time for
companion animals.
Rural vs urban, poor vs rich, dog eaters vs
dog lovers.
Working truck driver forced off the road by
a Mercedes-Benz, on the way to a hotel
resort.
3. Dogs and Pigs
Dog transporter Hao
Xiaomoa:
‘I still don’t understand
what was immoral about my
shipment. People also eat
cow and sheep. What’s the
difference?’
Piazza et al.:
‘People live with companion
animals that are not much
different from the animals
they eat (apart from their
cultural status).’
Pigs smarter than dogs
(computer tests).
Scientific Studies on Farmed
Animal Sentience.
Melanie Joy: Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and
Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism.
4. Dogs and Pigs
My PhD thesis:
Nick Pendergrast, A Sociological Examination of the Contemporary Animal
Advocacy Movement: Organisations, Rationality and Veganism, Curtin University.
5. Western Opposition to Chinese Dog
Slaughter
HSUS: many dogs are stolen pets.
Reinforce property status.
Wayne Hsiung:
‘Relic of colonialism’.
‘The Indians hold cows as sacred as we hold dogs’.
‘Undermines attempts by Chinese people, like me, to build
common cause with animal activists in China’.
US consumes >2x China meat consumption/person.
6. Implications for Western Animal
Advocacy
Effectiveness of campaigns demonising non-Western countries?
Support/solidarity with Chinese animal activists (Hana Low).
Oppose racism and not just speciesism (intersectionality).
Alternative options:
Promote veganism (moral equivalency).
Pursue more effective single issue campaigns that don’t contribute to racism eg
against kangaroo cull.
