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A slaughterhouse in the northern province of Thanh Hoa has been caught pumping solid rice into dogs via a stomach tube to increase their weight.
The discovery was made while police were conducting a routine inspection of the slaughterhouse, where they found an open-air patio covered in plastic tubes through which they reportedly pumped cooked rice into the dogs to increase their weight and thus their retail price.
The police also found more than 100 dogs on a truck being transported to dog meat restaurants where they would have been stewed, barbecued, steamed or skewered.
The slaughterhouse owner said he had bought the dogs from southern villages where dogs have traditionally been farmed.
“The police confirmed that the dogs had been stuffed with rice and water to gain more weight,” said a local official.
“Dogs are force-fed at most local slaughterhouses for profits,” he added.
It is estimated that there are tens of millions of dogs in Vietnam, where dog meat, which is more expensive than pork, is a traditional dish.
Some animal rights activists in the country said up to 5 million of dogs are eaten each year.
Thanh Hoa Province is the largest transit point for dogs in the northern region, with tens of thousands of dogs packed into metal cages every month to be sold to dog meat restaurants throughout the country.
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