•HRES 401 IH 
Whereas Humane Society International, Animals Asia Foun-
dation and Chinese media reports have found that a con-
siderable number of the dogs and cats in the dog and cat 
meat trade are stolen pets still wearing collars when they 
reach the slaughterhouses, in addition to stray dogs and 
cats who are captured for slaughter; 
Whereas many dogs and cats die during transport to slaugh-
terhouses after days or weeks crammed into small cages 
on the back of vehicles, without food or water, and others 
suffer illness and injury during transport, such as broken 
bones; 
Whereas Humane Society International and Animals Asia 
Foundation have found that dogs and cats who reach the 
slaughterhouses are typically killed with shocking bru-
tality, without any regard for humane treatment, in 
South Korea, China, and other countries; 
Whereas British, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Indo-
nesian scientists and government agencies have found 
that the dog and cat meat trade of capturing, trans-
porting, slaughtering, and butchering of dogs and cats, 
and the consumption of dog and cat meat, poses health 
risks such as rabies infection to the traders, slaughter-
house workers, and consumers; 
Whereas the World Health Organization reports that a ma-
jority of deaths caused by rabies infections happen in 
Asia and Africa, and the rabies virus is found in dogs 
traded for human consumption in the Philippines and 
other countries; 
Whereas Chinese reports and court verdicts show that dog 
meat traders also sell meat from dogs and cats who have 
died of poisoning, contributing to the food safety risks; 
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Whereas the dog and cat meat trade breaches food safety 
laws and regulations of some of these countries, which 
have policies that include bans on processing or selling 
meat from animals who have died of illnesses or unknown 
causes; 
Whereas China’s ‘‘one certificate for one dog policy’’, intro-
duced by China’s Ministry of Agriculture in a 2013 direc-
tive to prevent the transmission of animal diseases across 
provincial boundaries, is routinely flouted by dog trans-
porters who are required to have a vaccination and quar-
antine certificate for each dog and cat shipped across 
provincial boundaries but rarely possess such paperwork, 
as many of the animals are reportedly stolen pets; 
Whereas millions of citizens in these countries have expressed 
support for law-making and law enforcement against the 
dog and cat meat trade, such as the more than 8,600,000 
Chinese people who have so far expressed their support 
in an online poll for a March 2016 legislative proposal to 
ban trade in both dog and cat meat, making the proposal 
the most popular of all 142 legislative proposals made 
available for online voting in China in 2016; 
Whereas the majority of people in these countries do not con-
sume dog or cat meat and dog and cat meat is not a part 
of mainstream Asian culinary practice, as demonstrated, 
for example, by a June 2016 poll commissioned by Chi-
na’s Beijing Animal Welfare Association, which found 
that 69.5 percent of Chinese surveyed had never eaten 
dog meat and that it was a very rare food choice for the 
remainder; 
Whereas activists in such countries as China, South Korea, 
the Philippines, and Thailand have led public protests 
against the dog and cat meat trade, pulled over trucks 
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crammed with dogs and cats on their way to slaughter-
houses, and worked to rehabilitate, shelter, and adopt 
dogs and cats rescued from the trade; 
Whereas Korea Animal Rights Advocates hosted the Inter-
national Conference to End the Dog Meat Industry of 
Korea on August 5, 2016; 
Whereas pet-keeping has risen in India, the Philippines, 
China, and other countries with a dog and cat meat 
trade, and opposition to the dog and cat meat trade has 
grown within those countries as pet-keeping encourages 
compassion for animals; 
Whereas 11,000,000 people around the world have called 
upon the Government of China to end the annual Yulin 
dog meat festival and outlaw the dog meat trade; and 
Whereas the practice of dog and cat meat consumption is 
greatest in but not limited to Asia, and occurs to a lim-
ited degree in other regions of the world: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) calls for an end to the dog and cat meat in-
dustry because it— 
(A) is responsible for extreme animal cru-
elty; 
(B) involves the theft of companion ani-
mals; 
(C) is opposed by many Asian people; and 
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(D) poses food safety risks and threatens 
public health for citizens and international visi-
tors in these countries; 
(2) urges the Governments of China, South 
Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indo-
nesia, Cambodia, Laos, India, and all other nations 
that have a dog or cat meat trade to adopt and en-
force laws banning the dog and cat meat trade, as 
part of anti-cruelty laws or otherwise; 
(3) urges the Governments of China, South 
Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indo-
nesia, Cambodia, Laos, India, and all other nations 
to increase efforts to prevent any leather or fur by-
products of the dog and cat meat trade from enter-
ing international markets; 
(4) encourages the Governments of China, 
South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, 
Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, India, and all other na-
tions to use their food safety laws to crack down on 
the sale of dog and cat meat, a product that is out-
side most countries’ food safety regulatory mecha-
nisms; 
(5) affirms the commitment of the United 
States to the protection of animals and to advancing 
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the progress of animal protection around the world; 
and 
(6) urges executive branch officials to include 
the dog and cat meat trade on the agenda for dis-
cussion with the officials of countries that have a 
dog or cat meat industry. 
Æ 
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