50-year-old Francesco F, was the subject of a complaint from the Italian animal welfare association, which alleged that he adopted and then ate at least 15 cats over two years.
Activists with the organisation in the northern province of Brianza first became suspicious because the man would ask specifically to adopt a three-year-old cat with black fur and “a bit of flesh on it”. ...
“After several reports from different catteries we began to suspect that he was involved in some sort of Satanist group,” ... When confronted, he reportedly seemed confused and asked if killing and eating cats was against the law.Mr F supposedly “admitted to killing black cats and eating them in the company of friends”. He has been charged with animal abuse, and if convicted faces up to 12 months in jail.
In Australia there is no general prohibition on the consumption of cat, dog, ferret, mouse, parrot, budgie or other pet. There are restrictions on the sale of the meat and statutory frameworks regarding cruelty. Typically an organisation or individual processing meat intended for sale and human consumption must comply with state/territory meat production legislation, including be registration requirements and adherence to a formal Code/Standard or Regulation. The Codes exclude domestic as distinct from 'consumable' or 'abattoir' animals (which encompass sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, buffalo, deers and rabbit), game (e.g. crocodile) and poultry (duck, turkey, pigeon, pheasant, fowl).
I'm reminded of the Goncourt Brothers on the Siege of Paris (camel, kangaroo, sewer rat etc) and Francis Trevelyan Buckland (1826-1880) (dormice on toast, giraffe, wombat and other delicacies not found at your local supermarket). The Goncourts noted
On today's bill of fare in the restaurants we have authentic buffalo, antelope, and kangaroo. ...
You talk only about what is eaten, can be eaten, or can be found to eat. Conversation does not go beyond that.
"You know, a fresh egg costs twenty-five sous!"
"I hear there is an individual who is buying up all the candles in Paris, and out of them, by adding a little color, he makes that grease which is so expensive."
"Oh, keep away from cocoa butter; it stinks up the house for at least three days."
"I saw some dog cutlets; they're really very appetizing: they look just like mutton chops."
"Now tell me, who has eaten kangaroo?" ….
Horseflesh has entered on the sly into the diet of Paris. The day before yesterday Pelagic bought a piece of fillet which looked suspicious, and so I did not eat it. Yesterday, at Peter's, they brought me a roast beef of a blackish red of which my artist's eyes made me suspicious. The waiter merely assured me quite peacefully that this horse is beef.and
A shoulder of mutton is brought along.
"Oh !" says Hebrard, "we shall be eating the shepherd at our next dinner."
In fact, it is a very nice shoulder of dog. "Dog, you say it's dog," cried Saint-Victor, in the tearful voice of an angry child , "this isn't dog, is it, waiter?"
"But it's the third time you have had dog here."
"No, it isn't true, M. Brebant is an honest man; he would have warned us . .. . but dog is an impure meat . . ." he said, with a ludicrous horror.
"Give me horse, but not dog."
"Dog or sheep," mumbles Nefftzer, with his mouth full, "I've never eaten such a good roast . . . but if Brebant gave us rat . . . I know . . It's very good . . . tastes like a mixture of pork and pheasant!"and
I had the curiosity to call on Roos, the English butcher of the Boulevard Haussmann. I saw all sorts of strange relics. On the wall, hanging in a place of honour, is the trunk of young Pollux, the elephant from the Jardin d'Acclimatation ; and in the midst of nameless meats, and of unusual horns, a boy is offering camel kidneys.
The master butcher is holding forth, surrounded by a circle of women: "It's forty francs the pound for the fillet, and for the trunk . . . yes, forty francs . . . You find that dear ? . . . Well, really, I don't see what I am going to get out of it. ... I reckoned on 3,000 pounds, and I've only got 2,300. . . . The feet you want to know how much the feet are ? They are twenty francs. Other parts go from eight to forty francs. . . . Yes, I can recommend those sausages ; elephant's blood, you know, is most nourishing ... his heart weighs twenty-five pounds. . . . Yes, there's some onion in the sausage. . . ."In the Australian Capital Territory you can't purchase elephant sausage. The processing and selling cat or dog meat is prohibited under the Food Act 2001 (ACT), with killing of dogs or cats for dinner potentially covered under the Animal Welfare Act 1992 (ACT). The latter encompasses cruelty to "a live member of a vertebrate species", including an amphibian; a bird; a fish; a mammal (other than a human being); a reptile; a live cephalopod; or a live crustacean intended for human consumption.
In New South Wales processing and sale of dog and cat meat is prohibited under Food Act 2003 (NSW), with killing potentially an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW). Victoria addresses the killing of cats or dogs for food under the Animal Welfare Act 2002 (Vic), with a prohibition on processing and sale as part of the Food Act 2008 (Vic). Western Australia deals with cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act 2002 (WA); processing and sale cat or dog meat is prohibited under Food Act 2008 (WA).
Tasmania prohibits processing and selling cat or dog meat under the Meat Hygiene Act 1985 (Tas), with the Animal Welfare Act 1993 (Tas) dealing with the killing of cats or dogs for such a purpose. Queensland covers processing and sale under the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000 (Qld), with the cruelty offence under the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 (Qld) In the Northern Territory the processing and selling of cat or dog meat for human is prohibited under Food Act 2004 (NT), cruelty being covered under the Animal Welfare Act 2007 (NT).
South Australia exceptionally has a specific provision - Summary Offences Act 1953 (SA) s 10 - regarding consumption of cat and dog meat, in addition to prohibition on killing, processing and sale for the purpose of consumption. That section doesn't cover the eating of hamsters, iguanas, ferrets, lemurs and other fun pets.
Privacy law students will recall Lenah Game Meats, which reflects the legality of processing and sale of possum meat for human consumption.
