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A Fresno restaurant has temporarily shut down after an internet-fueled rumor took off alleging it was serving dog meat. Tasty Thai is a little, 6-month-old takeout restaurant on First Avenue near Belmont Avenue that closed Wednesday and Thursday after receiving a death threat and other negative comments via phone calls from around the country. People also posted negative reviews of the restaurant on Google and Yelp.com. “We have nothing to do with any of this, but we’re Asian and somehow we eat and serve dog?” said David Rasavong, who owns the restaurant with his parents. “Just because we’re an Asian restaurant? That’s disgusting.” The controversy started several days ago with an allegation of abuse of a pit bull tied up at the home next door to the restaurant. Maria Alvarez Garcia posted a Facebook video of herself confronting the owner of a panting pit bull tied up by its front paws with no water near where it was laying. She said the dog was approaching heat stroke. Fresno Police visited the home and decided the dog was not being abused, according to the department’s Instagram post Tuesday. The dog had been newly purchased and was later returned to its original owner, the post said. In later videos, Garcia continued to insist the dog was abused and commenters started to suggest that someone is eating the dogs. The family living in the home is Asian. “Some people reached out to me thinking that those people are eating the dogs,” she said in an Instagram video. “That kinda breaks my heart to consider that. I hope that we’re able to save this dog and all the dogs that end up in that house.” She later posted a picture of the restaurant. Commenters started assuming the restaurant was serving the dogs. No evidence of it was shared. The restaurant is next door to the home and separated by a fence — not attached to it, as some commenters have said. The Bee reached out to Garcia several times via phone and social media, but she did not immediately respond.
Read more at: https://www.modbee.com/news/california/article275566871.html#storylink=cpy
