Guinea Pig Festival in Peru

The one-day festival includes an animal show and fashion contest which features the guinea pig, Then dinner is served.

Comments

Wait, is this WFMU or Cute Overload?

[Kate Saltfleet]

How bizarre!

[schlep]

Cute overload, followed by (if you look at all the photos) - sheer horror!

[KOKO]

are you telling me that they consume these bundles of super-kawai? assholes.

[Neal Snow]

Okay, dressing up your pets, THEN killing them to make din-din, is sick, sick, sick.

[zom]

goes back to the way sacrificial victims (from the ancient inca basis of this modern culture) were treated before their death.
check this out: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071003-inca-sacrifice.html

[Dominick]

I doubt they are pets.
Pets or meat? Never both.

[Mamita]

NO! they do not have them as pets. Eating them is just part of their culture, a taste choice, how about us with alligators? snakes? etc., same thing! Just another way to make you guys think of peruvians as "those weird people", take your time and check out the real culture, majestic places, beautiful people, fine arts, don't waste your time with what ignorant people want you to believe. A good site to start: http://livinginperu.com

[Lisa]

How do they kill them before they are eaten? Are they humanely killed, or are they fried alive? Poor little beasts, they look so humiliated in those clothes, just to be stripped and thrown into a vat of oil (God forbid) and served on a plate. Does anyone know any particulars?

[Elizabeth Flores]

What a cruel and heartless tradition.
I used to raise guina pigs as pets and they are beautiful animals - very very wrong to do such a thing.

[lovin life]

I am well familiar with the culture as I am peruvian. #1 they are not "friend alive". Hello??!!!! Just because it's happening in another country/culture doesn't mean it needs to be so savage-like. Do you know how Lobters are cooked??????? And that happens all the time in the US - have you ever been (or heard of ) the northeast.
I appreciate the comment made by Mamita.. in the US people eat alligators, snakes, rabbit, venison, etc. I was raised in teh US and had guinea pigs as pets and I personally dont eat them but in South America it is no different than how people raise chickens. Obviously not for their eggs but for their meat. Evidently it is a delicacy.
Please dont feed into the ignorance... take a moment and look at your own cu;ture and the intricacies that it entails.

[sherryn]

can i just something
stop killing giniea pigs and eating them
how would you like it if we was giniea pigs and giniea pigs are us and they kill us and eat us now tell me how whould like it there so cute not doing any danger to us it kjust makes me full really angry and sad inside. just stop it for once in your life there great pets.SO STOP IT FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE BECAUSE TELL YA WHAT IF WE WHERE GINIEA PIGS HOW THE HEAK WOULD YOU LIKE IT. BECAUE I HATE ACCTURLEY 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 REALLYS HATE PEOPLE THAT ARE DOING THIS. SO YA UNDERSTAND NOW.STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP IT FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE . IM AGE 11 LIVE IN AUS AND I MUST CUTE PHOTO UP TOP.

[Gerry]

I don't get it. What's the difference between guinea pigs and chickens. We raise chickens, they raise guinea pigs. Maybe people in Peru think we are evil because we keep chickens in our backyard and we actually eat their eggs.

Get a grip people.

[David Cameron Schneider]

When I read the headline, I just knew this topic was going to produce some ranting an raving on both sides...and naturally it did. Being a Peruvian by birth of USA parents and currently living in N. Peru, we see both sides and appreciate the two extremes. However, we even more appreciate those comments above that are not extreme even more. Yes, most people don't like the idea of killing those cute little guinea pigs (cuy), especially dressed up like little people. On the other hand, have you ever been to a county fair in the USA? Especially one where the young 4-H clubs are. Those cute animals have been handraised, fed, and coddled all their lives, yet are being shown with the purpose of developing better cattle for hamburgers (or chickens for KF), etc. It is a cruel world. However, as long as we are willing to eat meat (like me) we need to accept that most livestock of any sort (guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, or whatever) is grown to be placed on our plates.