In a carnivorous restaurant, it is acceptable for a person to eat the meat of an animal that would not normally be eaten. Restaurant-goers can indulge in ‘foreign’ delicacies such as crocodile and warthog meat.
When the dish arrives one can hardly tell which animal the meat comes from, because it is neatly cut into pieces.
A member of the community recently contacted the News in connection with apparent animal cruelty. The alarmed man said a dog had been slaughtered in York Street, Luipaardsvlei moments earlier.
The News investigated the claim and found a group of hungry men standing around a newly lit fire in an open yard. A strange odour filled the air as the News journalist and a member of the Johannesburg SPCA approached them.
A bloody machete lay on a chopping board and next to it, a light coloured cloth covered what seemed to be a large metallic bowl.
The SPCA member started questioning the men. Their broken English made dialogue difficult. To better explain their point, one of them lifted the cloth from the bowl, revealing the mutilated body of what seemed to be a porcupine. The heart, feet and head of the animal were clearly visible.
The men explained the porcupine had been hit by a vehicle on Rustenburg Road earlier that day.
He said for them to have good meat to eat does not necessarily mean a visit to the store and where they can buy some prime-cut beef and spices.
“Meat is meat,” said Pieter Koripwe, one of the men around the fire. “If we don’t eat it, we go hungry.”
With meat prices expected to rise by up to 15 per cent before the end of December, because of the drought that preceded the festive season, it might seem understandable for people with a low income to seek alternative meat sources.
The price of Class A beef is expected to rise by between R3,40 and R5,70 per kilogram, while that of Class A lamb could increase by between R5,60 and R9,40 per kilogram. The price of poultry may also increase if importation becomes necessary.
The SPCA member said what the men did was not illegal – there is no law preventing citizens from eating roadkill.
“We have eaten many kind of meat – we ate a snake the other day,” Pieter said.
Also Read:
Alleged poacher found with fresh meat
Buldge in man’s pants not his own
