Would YOU eat dog meat? Putting man's best friend on the menu could be good for the environment, writer claims

In South Korea alone it is estimated that 2.5 million dogs are eaten every year - and millions more are eaten around in the world, mostly in Asia.

Residents of many countries, however, view dog-eating as immoral, while the practice is forbidden by Judaism and Islam.

But one expert has claimed that eating dogs shouldn’t necessarily be discouraged, and in fact adding the domesticated pets to our menus could be beneficial.

 
In an opinion piece for CNN John Sutter says eating dogs is the equivalent of eating pigs, another intelligent creature.

He cites figures from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that say 1.2 million dogs are euthanised every year in the U.S.

And he suggests eating them is not only an option, but it could also be helpful.

According to Sutter, in a book titled ‘Eating Animals’ vegetarian novelist Jonathan Foer writes: ‘Unlike all farmed meat, which requires the creation and maintenance of animals, dogs are practically begging to be eaten.

‘The simple disposal of these euthanised dogs is an enormous ecological and economic problem.'

The problem arises in the disposal of euthanised dogs - while some are cremated, others are left on landfills.

According to the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia veterinarians use potent drugs to euthanise pets.

But if not properly disposed and left on a landfill, 'scavenging wild or domestic animals can be poisoned by the drug remaining in the dead animal.'

And Foer continues: ‘It would be demented to yank pets from homes. But eating those strays, those runaways, those not-quite-cute-enough-to-take and not-quite-well-behaved-enough-to-keep dogs would be killing a flock of birds with one stone and eating it, too.’

One photographer who recently travelled to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to investigate the trade tells MailOnline it is a 'very touchy subject'. This photo from Yunnan Province, China shows dogs that were caged to be taken to restaurants