BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE

Anti-Dog Meat Advocate Accused of Paying People to Kill Animals to Bilk Celebrity Supporters

An investigation into Marc Ching, a prominent advocate against the dog meat trade, alleges he paid someone to burn a dog to raise funds from celebs.

A prominent former violent-criminal-turned-anti-dog-meat-advocate raised funds from celebrities including Moby and actresses Alicia Silverstone and Shannen Doherty—but is now accused of staging animal abuse, according to the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper investigated Marc Ching, whose non-profit foundation to stop the dog meat trade raised tens of thousands of dollars that he used for his personal business interests. In one fundraising campaign, he showed a a dog being hung by a rope and burned in a market in Indonesia, claiming that the death “was taking place in broad daylight while passersby ignored the dog’s screams. My translator filmed the gruesome act only to use as evidence of the cruelty happening in Indonesia.” But the L.A. Times tracked down the alleged dog butcherer, who claimed Ching paid him for the particularly cruel killing. Ching, who denies the claims that he is a fraud, says the allegations are motivated by rivalries among animal rescuers and that the butcher was bribed to say the shot was set up.