| by Rajasingham Jayadevan
( February 21, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Whilst the United Kingdom is dogged by the horsemeat scandal, Sri Lanka too is silently suffering with the dog meat gossip.
People are worried that dog meat is being sold illegally. The fear is such that people are dreading to go for goat meat curry even in restaurants.
But unfortunately, except for isolated news reporting of incidences, the issue has not reached the level of becoming a scandal to dog the nation.
In view of the ever escalating cost of living, goat meat is fetching very high price and the dog meat appear to be illegally entering the market for profit taking.
During my recent visit to Sri Lanka, I visited the Manning Market in Wellawatte to purchase mutton. There were two stalls and the mutton in stock were very scarce indeed.
I was taken to a loyal butcher. My first question to the butcher was whether it is mutton or dog meat. The Butcher with a smile, assured me that they were absolutely mutton and of good quality.
The size and shape of the two skinned headless carcasses hanging on the rail caused me some concern. My worried mind was probing and the carcasses hanging fit the sizes of the traditional stray dogs in Sri Lanka.
I carefully looked to establish whether the testicles were pinned or stitched but were not. My repeated questioning did not perturb the butcher and he assured they were goats. With all the reservations I had, I sill bought two kilos.
It was cooked in the traditional Tamil way and was our main curry for the afternoon meal. The lunch was a tragic experience as the mutton curry did not go well at all. It did not give the expected mutton flavour and aroma.
Though I did not have any after effects, two of my relatives had to face the consequences for three days. The adverse experience will be ever remembered -not to step into butchers shop or even try mutton curry in Sri Lanka.
Plentiful stray dogs are roaming around all over in Sri Lanka and they are easy prey for the illicit trade.
In Sri Lanka dogs are treated as man’s best friend. Unlike the Chinese, Koreans and some Filipino communities, the dogs have not reached the plates of the humans in Sri Lanka illegally until recently. Whether it would be legalised with the market adjusting itself to the circumstances is a wait and watch matter.
The authorities must go a long way to respond to the fears of the consumer. Whether it is nostalgia or real threat must be clearly established through due process.
The ever screaming government trumpets like Mervin Silva and Minister Wimal Weerawanse must take this as a crusade than engaging in their petty parochial campaigns.
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