CONCERN OVER THRIVING UNDERGROUND MARKET FOR DOG MEAT IN ZAMBIA

The veterinary association of Zambia has expressed concern over a thriving underground market for Dog meat especially being sold as Goat meat to unsuspecting customers at public drinking places and on open market in Zambia.

Speaking at a joint media briefing between the association and animal welfare societies in Lusaka today, the association president Malcolm Chiyoba says in the absence of deterrent measures, this practice despite being illegal may become widespread if offenders go unpunished.

Dr. Chiyoba says Dog meat poses a health threat to humans because of the presence of serious zoonotic diseases that are able to be transmitted from animals to humans, exposing them to diseases such as rabies and parasites including roundworms, hookworms and others.

He has since called for the strengthening of the provisions of the Food safety Act number 7 of 2019 which regulates the manufacture, sale and use of Food in Zambia.

Meanwhile, Lusaka animal welfare society vice chairperson Sheila Oparaocha says the demand for dog meat across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo creates a lucrative market which results in illegal, unsafe and cruel handling of dogs in Zambia as investigations have shown that about 100 Dogs are taken across the border every month.