How About a Hot Dog for Lunch?

A British performance artist has eaten part of a corgi, the breed of dog that is the favorite pet of Queen Elizabeth II, to protest the alleged mistreatment of animals by the royal family.

Mark McGowan set up a table on a London street Tuesday and dined on what he said was the meat from a corgi in hopes of drawing attention to media reports that Prince Philip, had beaten a fox to death during a hunt.

British performance artist Mark McGowan eats a piece of Corgi dog in a busy street in London Tuesday May 29, 2007. McGowan sat down at a pavement table and tucked into cooked corgi - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II's favourite animal. To make it more palatable, the corgi was turned into meat balls and served with salad. McGowan, who described himself as a vegetarian, looked physically ill as he chewed slowly through the first mouthful. He said the taste was disgusting.

"We love our animals in Britain," McGowan told AP Television News. "Why is it then that we then allow people, especially people who are supposed to be ambassadors for this country, to treat animals with such disrespect?"

Buckingham Palace declined to comment, and Britain's top animal-protection charity said there was no evidence to support the claim that Prince Philip abused the fox.

To make the corgi more palatable, it was mixed with apple, onion and seasoning, turned into meat balls, and served with salad.

McGowan said the corgi he consumed had died recently at a breeding farm and had not been killed for the purposes of the protest.

"I ate three lumps of it. But I spat two of them out, so I really ate one and a half of them," McGowan said.

Your "pass the mustard" scribe;
Allan W Janssen