Inside Asia’s dog meat industry and relating it to Manitoba

The Winnipeg Humane Society (WHS) Farm Animal Compassion Committee presents its next free speaker series event Betraying Man’s Best Friend: Inside Asia’s Dog Meat Trade at the WHS’s Joyce Gauthier Behaviour and Training Centre at 45 Hurst Way on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.

Brittany Semeniuk, a veterinary nurse utilizing her career to improve animal welfare in Manitoba and across the globe, provides insight into Asia’s dog meat industry in this non-graphic presentation and compares it to farming practices in Manitoba.

“Our canine companions are being killed by the millions and need us to be their voice. But we must also look inward at the plight of our own farm animals, as the suffering of one species does not justify inflicting suffering onto another,” says Semeniuk.

In 2013-14 Semeniuk witnessed the trade first-hand when she worked for an animal welfare group in northern Vietnam.

“Fighting the dog meat industry is not about cultural imperialism as there is nothing cultural about the trade. It is a relatively new, profitable, high functioning industry fuelled by suffering on a massive scale,” says Semeniuk.

Her speaker series discusses the transportation, housing and inhumane treatment of dogs in the industry and draw parallels to Manitoba’s pig farming practices. Semeniuk addresses why both industries prohibit the intelligent animals from acting on their most basic instincts, leading to an impeding quality of life and what can be done to prevent the suffering of animals both in Manitoba and Asia.