China Takes Dog Off Olympic Menu

At least 5K dogs would have been killed, cooked

(NEWSER) - Puppy lovers, rejoice. Officials in eastern China last week canceled the Jinhua Hutou Dog Meat Festival. If that name makes you a little queasy—well, there's good reason for that. The 600-year-old tradition saw at least 5,000 of dogs slaughtered on the spot, and served up as the main dish. As the story goes, the festival stemmed from a tradition begun in the 14th century, when the barking dogs that revealed an army's position were fed to the soldiers on the general's angry orders, reports the New York Times . More»

'I'm not happy I did it, but China shouldn't ban it'

(NEWSER) - There is no rational reason that eating dog is barbaric while eating pig is, well, pork, insists Roger Cohen. Nor are dogs natural pets over pigs. So it stands to reason that China should cancel plans to fine people for dining on dogs, Cohen writes. "If you eat meat you cannot logically find it morally or ethically repugnant to eat a particular meat," Cohen notes in the New York Times . "Do pigs have any more or less of a soul than dogs?" He thinks not. More»

Government mandates names as squeamish tourists descend

(NEWSER) - The Chinese government is issuing a list of revised names for some of the country's more obliquely translated dishes in preparation for the wave of tourists the Beijing Olympics will draw this August, the New York Times reports.

• A disconcerting plate of “husband-and-wife lung slices” will be rechristened as a slightly more appetizing "pork lungs in chili sauce"
• The bizarre "ants climbing up a tree" will now be a more straightforward “sautéed vermicelli with spicy minced pork”

Slate's Ted Kerasote protests animal cruelty in China

(NEWSER) - While you're busy worrying about human rights in China, author and journalist Ted Kerasote argues, add animal rights to the list. After a trip to a ski camp in China where he was befriended by a "dead ringer for Lassie," he was appalled to find his canine pal served as the main dish at a feast in his honor. More»

They are about as adorable as you'd expect

(NEWSER) - All together now: Awwwww. Four newborn liger cubs, the rare offspring of a male lion and female tiger, were abandoned by their mother earlier this month. Fortunately, staff at China’s Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo found a dog who had recently given birth and could nurse the surviving cubs after two died of weakness. Amusingly, the AP notes that “ligers are very rare and are sometimes bred in zoos by mistake,” but does not give any hint as to how such an error might occur. More»