We arrive in the morning at the Animal Quarantine Center in Nakhon Phanom, north-east Thailand, just a few kilometers away from mountains which outline the border with Laos. The summer heat is already beating down hard and it's only 9 a.m.
But it's not humidity that hits me as I climb out of the 4WD, rather the overwhelming smell of dog urine and feces.
This is a makeshift shelter that should be housing a maximum of 400 dogs. Instead there are more than 1,700 animals being kept in large concrete pens at the compound. Staff work around the clock.
This region is the heartland for the cruel and inhumane dog smuggling trade. The illegal operation sees an estimated 200,000 dogs transported in trucks from Thailand into neighboring Laos, across the Mekong River and driven across to Vietnam where the meat is considered a delicacy. Some believe it has medicinal qualities and acts as an aphrodisiac - black dogs are apparently the best for sexual dysfunction. Yet no scientific proof has ever proved such a claim.
Read - Sanctuary at front line of fight against 'inhumane' dog trade
Previously in taboo food news:
Lawmaker battles to ban lion meat
Horse meat, little blue balls and other weird stuff in your food this week
'Traces of horse DNA' found in some Nestle products
Horse: Coming soon to a meat case near you?
Poll – making a meal of mustang
Top Chef trots into taboo territory
The dogs are boiled alive!! Or skinned alive.!! Or they are hanged. Why is this crucial factor left out?
I'm getting pretty good at cooking dog dishes but the more elaborate dishes like rựa mận thịt chó is still not as good as my mom's. But I get nice compliments for my thịt chó xào lăn (rolled saute dog meat) and my dog meat hot pot in our weekly dog cookout. My cousins in the US are jealous because they can cook dogs only not often. My secret to good cooking dogs is the right amount of mắm tôm (prawn paste) marinating the dog meat in its dog blood mixed with sesame, chili peppers, ginger, powder pepper, salt and wine. It's so good. I'm moving to America to join my cousins there and want to get real good at cooking dogs before then, all my friends can't wait for me to come so we can have good food together!
You are one sick individual !!!!
This is crazy. What would dog meat taste like?
Poor dogs. Humans are capable of the most cruel acts.