More than Four Million People Agree: St. Bernard's are not for Dinner!

When in April 2000 a lady from New Zealand, Mrs. Elly Maynard, discovered that Western dogs are being exported to some Asian countries where they are slaughtered in an appalling way, she was so shocked that she launched a petition against dogs being treated as life stock. How could she have known at the time that she was about to create an internet-happening of almost historic dimensions?

Right from the start she found a lot of interest. It did not take her long to collect 350,000 handwritten signatures from people who were just as upset as she was, and find the support of a number of organisations backing the petition with all their members. Mrs. Maynard was delighted about the unexpected vivid reaction.

“I hadn't had any experience with internet petitions so I didn't know what to expect. It's absolutely staggering,'' she said, unaware that she was only at the beginning of what turned out to become a real storm in cybernet.

Not only did signatures continue to stream in, but she also received reactions from all corners of the world (Russia, the United Arab Emirates, many European countries, Malaysia, hundreds of protest from China itself, Hong Kong and many, many Asians living in Western countries). She was interviewed by the most respected newspapers of many capitals and had contacts with politicians and celebrities.

As a next step the submission has been presented to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on 2 November.

“What we want is a declaration from the UN stating Western-bred dogs are not to be imported for human consumption,'' Mrs. Maynard states, “dogs have always been bred as companion animals - they do not belong in the livestock trade.''

You can find the submission in the next article.