Eating dog meat was frowned upon in Ghana up until around 2009, by which stage it had become an accepted food and often referred to as a “delicacy.” Dog meat is eaten eaten in Ghana because after clever marketing by all involved, customers have come to enjoy the pungent taste of the meat.

It is often cooked in hot pepper and sauce and usually washed down with alcoholic drinks. It is not eaten out of necessity to stay alive; simply for enjoyment of taste.

A study conducted a few years ago revealed concerns relating to Ghana’s dog unregulated dog meat trade, it’s live dog markets and the people working in the trade, as well as the large amounts of quick-cash money exchanging hands. Nothing was being monitored and everything in the industry was open to be abused.

One dog butcher complained  “about the cudgel-and-pestle mauling of the animal to numb it before it is opened up dressed.” In other words, he complained about having to bludgeon the dog before cutting it open and butchering it. He went on to describe his love of dog meat and his business of  “botching and dressing dogs for dealers” who come to him for his service to enable them meet demands for the khebabs or sauce market.

The same butcher also said he gets spiritual nourishment from dog meat. “It gives me some sort of spiritual energy too. Before I began taking the delicacy dog meat, I suffered attacks in my dreams. I found myself in my dreams being perpetually chased. Today, insha Allah, I am now the predator instead of the hunted. I no longer wake up battered and bruised spiritually. I chase my enemies now.”

One of Ghana’s senior officials of the Dietherapy Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital said the appropriate authorities need to monitor the industry to avoid health risks because rabies is a particularly dangerous dog disease and infectious. He added that there is the compelling need to monitor the industry.

Rabies is rampant across the continent of Africa and throughout it’s many countries, such as Ghana. Apparently healthy looking dogs can be carrying rabies for up to seven months before any outward signs appear. Rabies can be easily transmitted from animal to human, through the tiniest pin prick on the person’s skin. It can also be transmitted though the person’s tear ducts and nasal passages, even after the dog is dead!

Rabies can lay dormant in an apparently healthy human’s body for up to seven years, before showing any signs of the deadly disease. Once rabies is diagnosed, it is almost always fatal. No dogs or cats are health checked within the any dog and cat meat trade, and consequently the pet meat trade has becomes a hot-bed for spreading deadly viruses and illnesses such as rabies, to humans.

Thank you for reading,

Michele Brown
Founder,
Fight Dog Meat.