'Dog meat can kill'

A VETERINARY surgeon has said people should not eat dog meat as doing so can result in illness or death.

The warning follows an incident in which the Bulawayo City Council raided a homeless Bulawayo man identified only as Ndebele last Thursday who was selling dog meat from carcasses taken from a municipal dumpsite.

The man had been skinning carcasses of dogs that would have been put down by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

Bulawayo SPCA Veterinary Surgeon, Dr Anele Dube, said dog meat is dangerous as it is not inspected for human consumption fitness anywhere in Zimbabwe.

"There are no cultural, religious or traditional practices of consuming meat from dogs. There are therefore no guidelines to the raising, slaughter and processing of meat from dogs for consumption and use of other body parts. There is no set scientific procedure or routine quality control protocol for checking if meat from dogs is fit for human consumption," he said.

Dr Dube said any animal that is put down by the SPCA is hazardous for human consumption.

"All carcasses that are sent for disposal from the SPCA are of animals that have been humanely euthanised or those that have died from disease or natural causes. The chemicals used for euthanasia are very dangerous and because of this, none of the animals are fit for human consumption.

"These animals may be dangerous or even fatal to eat and even any of their body parts may not be used for any other purposes, " he said.

"It is therefore illegal to slaughter dogs, process the meat or other body parts, distribute or sell for any purpose. It is risky, dangerous and may even be fatal to eat meat from dogs in this country."

Earlier this week, a Bulawayo City Council (BCC) municipal police officer was attacked by three men looking for carcasses at its dump site, an incident that the municipality said raises suspicions about the existence of a syndicate selling dog meat. The security guard was rushed to hospital.