I beg to move,
That this House has considered e-petition 120702 relating to South Korea and the dog meat trade.
May I begin, Mr Nuttall, by thanking you for chairing this important debate, which I am introducing on behalf of the Petitions Committee? It has attracted a huge amount of support. More than 100,000 people have signed the petition, but I know that the interest goes much wider than those who have signed it. Already articles in papers such as the Daily Mirror have attracted a huge amount of interest and public reaction, so I know there is great concern about the topic.
I must admit that before I agreed to introduce the debate I had relatively little knowledge of the dog meat trade. We are all naturally repulsed by the idea, but I have been shocked and deeply concerned by some of the evidence that has been presented to me, and I thank the organisations that provided it, including the Humane Society International, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and World Protection for Dogs and Cats in the Meat Trade, as well as other charitable organisations and groups that have come into contact with me.
Before I talk about some of the specific concerns about the trade, I will make a few general points. I lived in east Asia for some time and am acutely aware that we need to be sensitive to cultural differences. The fact that South Korea has been picked for inclusion in the motion is probably to do with the fact that the winter Olympics are coming to the country in 2018. We should be mindful that the practice in question is not confined to South Korea. It is very prevalent in China, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries.