by Alan Jacques
THE persistence of a Limerick woman who has for years written letters to the Chinese Embassy in Dublin calling for its government to ban the slaughter of cats and dogs has finally paid off.
Castletroy woman Maria O’Donnell was last weekend invited to meet with representatives from the Chinese Embassy.
And she used the meeting to appeal for an end to the deaths of “our animal friends” during controversial festivals such as Yulin, which sees around 10,000 dogs eaten during the traditional annual event.
Ms O’Donnell has repeatedly taken up her pen to write to the embassy to condemn the dog meat festival where animals are skinned – often while fully conscious.
The passionate animal rights campaigner also brought four student council members and animal advocates from Castletroy College to her meeting in Dublin to put questions to the Chinese officials last weekend.
“I was not going to sit back and let this unmerciful bloodshed happen right before my very eyes,” Ms O’Donnell told the Limerick Post.
“China and its people are some of the best in the world, but like Ireland, it has its hidden animal cruelties. I implore the people of Limerick City to write to the Chinese government and politely urge the needless killing to stop,” she added.
Last year, Ms O’Donnell led a lively demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy with dozens of supporters to call an end to dog meat festivals.
Founder of Limerick animals rights group ARAN (Animal Rights Action Network), John Carmody, maintains that while China is not the only country that skins and eats dogs and cats, “it is one of the big players”.
“In Yulin and many other parts of the country, tens of thousands of dogs are captured, bred and often illegally caught, trucked hundreds of miles in small, filthy cages in extreme weather conditions where they are bludgeoned, blowtorched and cut into pieces of meat,” said Mr Carmody.
“China is also the world’s largest producer of fur which means over two million dogs and cats and millions of other fur-bearing animals are farmed, clubbed and beaten often without pain relief and skinned most often while fully conscious. The country does not have any laws to protect animals,” he explained.
