Dec. 24 - A Hong Kong court sentenced four men to 30 days in jail for slaughtering two pet dogs for food, a court official and a newspaper said Saturday.

 

The four men pleaded guilty Friday to butchering the two mongrels raised by one of the men in a rural village on November 12, the Ming Pao Daily said.

 

The men said the case was a matter of "culinary culture," not cruelty to the animals, and their lawyers argued for community service orders saying offenders in similar cases had been fined, the newspaper said.

 

But the judge at Tuen Mun Magistrate's Court, Kwok Wai-kin, rejected that argument.

 

"Could serving a community service order bring the dogs back to life?" the paper quoted Kwok as saying. "If your dogs could speak, what would they say?"

 

Prosecutors said the men tied the dogs up, drowned them in large nylon bags filled with water, then chopped them up, Ming Pao said. The men were preparing to cook the meat when neighbors reported them to police.

 

The men were released on bail Friday pending an appeal, court spokeswoman Jamie Or said.

 

Slaughtering dogs for food is banned in Hong Kong under the Dogs and Cats Ordinance. The maximum penalty is a fine of HK$5,000 (US$640) and six months in prison.