The article "Jail for eaters of endangered wild animals in China" says that Chinese who buy it to eat the meat of endangered animals, because they want to impress others or because they believe it is good for health, can now be jailed either for eating the meat or for buying it (2014).
The different species of bears mentioned in the article reminded me of Mencius, which I studied decades ago, although he didn't tell us exactly what sort of bear's paws he liked to eat. Perhaps be liked them all. The next thing I thought of, which is less directly related to the ideas in the article, was dogs because they are also popular items on menus in some parts of Thailand and in other countries, and I think for similar reasons.
I can't see any good reason for not eating dogs. However, the new Chinese laws to protect the bears, pangolins, pandas and other endangered animals seem reasonable to me because those animals are in danger of becoming extinct, so need protection. Dogs, on the other hand, are in no danger of becoming extinct - the streets are full of them. But I think it would be better to raise dogs on farms for customers who want to eat them. Street dogs are not hygienic. They are likely to be full of dangerous parasites and diseases. I'm not sure that stolen pets are very clean either, and stealing is definitely wrong, even if eating dogs is not.
They aren't really paws, but I love duck's feet. In Australia, when ducks are roasted, they feet at usually cut off and thrown away, or boiled up with other bits to make stock for a soup. But my mum used to leave them on. There wasn't much meat, but they were great to gnaw at and suck on for the tasty skin and flesh. There is connection for me between ducks and dogs. When my brother was travelling with me in Thailand many years ago, before I'd learnt any Thai, we called in a small restaurant in Chiangrai for lunch. When we asked him, the manager assured as that the duck was very good, and that sounded pretty good to us. But when our "duck" arrived, there was something very strange about it. As regular duck eaters since childhood, we knew that whatever spicy dish was in front of us, the meat was not duck. We called the manager over for a bit more discussion to check exactly what we were eating, and this time we realized that he had not been saying "duck" but "dog." Since we had already started, and it did taste good, we finished our meal. I don't think the menu offered paws. It was a fun story to tell afterwards.
A few years ago when I was again visiting Chiangrai, this time with a Thai friend, he very proudly produced some dog for his mum to cook up for a party meal, assuring me of its health benefits. Personally, I would have preferred duck, but to be polite, I did eat a bit of his mother's cooking, which was also a little more spicy than I normally like my food.
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