Astronaut Ate Dog Meat in Space

Forty-four-year-old Chinese military pilot and astronaut Yang Liwei has written his autobiography which details his historic experiences as commander of the Shenzhou Five Space Mission in 2003.

Published under the titles "The Long March to Space" and "The Nine Levels Between Heaven and Earth," the book has sparked controversy since it revealed that astronauts were given "quite normal food" for meals in space including dog meat.

Well, the revelation sparked a barking-mad reaction from animal activists, saying he was setting a bad example for his millions of fans.

In a statement, Animals Asia's Irene Feng sais (sic) she was "a little shocked" to hear that China was putting dog meat on the menu for its astronauts.

"There are so many health risks associated with the farming, slaughter and consumption of dogs," said Feng, who runs Animals Asia's Doctor Dog program in China. "I hope our national space team will consider these issues."

Jill Robinson, Animals Asia's founder and chief executive officer, said it's especially important for China's astronauts to set an example.

"Yang Liwei is a role model for so many young people and he is one of China’s greatest heroes," Robinson said. "We hope that he might recognize dogs as the heroes they are too - they found survivors during the Sichuan earthquake and protected people from potential terrorists during the Olympic Games. Surely they deserve more."

Animals Asia is devoted to end consumption of dog and cat meat. I would suggest that the organization will ultimately fight to end consumption of chicken, pigs and beef also.