South Korean dog meat dealers cancel World Cup plans

Like many, if not most, people of Euro-American background, I have a visceral distaste for the idea of eating dogs. But that's just an emotional reaction. Is there a rational reason to oppose the practice -- not that a rational reason is always needed -- or are condemnations by people who eat beef or pork on a regular basis hypocritical?

Using dogs as a source of meat is an inefficient use of energy. To some degree, that's true of most animals -- my understanding is that about ninety percent of calories are lost in the conversion from vegetable to animal -- but it's particularly true of dogs, which are of course carnivores. I don't know how dogs raised for meat are fed today, but I think originally they foraged for scraps. I wouldn't say this is necessarily immoral, though.

My opinion is that the relationship between dogs and humans is a special one. Dogs were the first domesticated animal, and have always been a partner animal in a way only the horse might match. I think it's a violation of the partnership to eat dogs. But that's not really a rational reason, is it?