More than 10,000 dogs are slaughtered every year during
the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China
Thousands of dogs, many of them stolen pets, are captured and transported over long distances under horrific conditions.
Once in Yulin, they’re held in crowded cages without food or water until they are killed. Often, they are beaten and their throats are slit in front of other terrified animals. Most Chinese citizens reject this practice...
Yulin One Day Dog Eating Festival is held every year on June 21, to mark the summer solstice where many people in Yulin falsely believe legends which say eating dog meat on June 21st will keep evil spirits away and disease at bay.
Each year, around 10,000 dogs are brutally slaughtered and eaten in the province of Zhejang, during the annual festival day, where they are cooked and served with lychees and washed down with lychee wine.
Although authorities say the dogs are bred on dog farms, Chinese animal activists say many of the dogs are either stray dogs or pet dogs which are stolen from their owners in the countryside.
Yulin is a city with approximately 5.63 million people and the summer solstice festival began in the late 1990s when acceptance of dog eating moved from rural countryside to the city. Once seen as shameful, dog meat was cleverly marketed to be accepted as a mainstream food item.
Last year, 2013, animal activists used social media to protest their disgust about Yulin, after horrific photographs were published showing thousands of wretched dogs crammed into iron cages, waiting to be brutally slaughtered as people sat around eating dog meat and lychees.
Workers unload dogs from a truck at Binjiang Road in Yulin. The dogs will be butchered before being sent to restaurants. Photo: Li Hao/GT
Cages of dogs are delivered to an unenviable fate at a market in Yulin - a long tradition in the city.
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A dog howls at its fate at a slaughterhouse in Yulin. Photo: Li Hao/GT
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Dog meat being prepared for sale in Yulin, Guangxi province. Photograph: Quirky China News/Rex Features
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An animal rights advocate puts up a poster that calls for people not to eat dogs and cats. Photo: Li Hao/GT
As last year's festival commenced, dog after dog was grabbed by the neck and screaming, each dog was bludgeoned with a club then stabbed in the chest, skinned and boiled, then chopped up and served with lychees to waiting families who were eager to start eating.
Festival organisers slaughtered dogs in full view of customers to show they were using fresh meat, which is normal practice, but due to the massive number of dogs being slaughtered, when photographs emerged people worldwide were horrified at what they saw.
The festival is organised by Yulin locals, not by the Chinese government so pressuring organisers is not as easy as it sounds because they are backed up by government officials who swear every dog meat dog is raised on a dog farm, which is clearly not true.
With no animal laws in place, local Yulin people are angered by outsider’s protests against their festival. One local butcher told the Global Times that he does not pay much attention to the safety issue.
“It is the government’s job to decide whether it is ok to eat dog or not, my job is to kill them and make money, I don’t ask where they come from,” he said.
Li Junqing, Head of Yulin’s Food And Drug Administration, was interviewed at the festival and told the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News: ”If you try to stop people from eating dog meat, they might greet you with a knife.” [1]
Festival organisers slaughtered dogs in full view of customers to show they were using fresh meat, which is normal practice, but due to the massive number of dogs being slaughtered, when photographs emerged people worldwide were horrified at what they saw.
The festival is organised by Yulin locals, not by the Chinese government so pressuring organisers is not as easy as it sounds because they are backed up by government officials who swear every dog meat dog is raised on a dog farm, which is clearly not true.
With no animal laws in place, local Yulin people are angered by outsider’s protests against their festival. One local butcher told the Global Times that he does not pay much attention to the safety issue.
“It is the government’s job to decide whether it is ok to eat dog or not, my job is to kill them and make money, I don’t ask where they come from,” he said.
Li Junqing, Head of Yulin’s Food And Drug Administration, was interviewed at the festival and told the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News: ”If you try to stop people from eating dog meat, they might greet you with a knife.” [1]
Chinese diners tuck into dog-meat hotpot in a restaurant in Yulin, Guangxi province. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex Features
According to an open letter by the Hong Kong-based NGO Animals Asia, many of the dogs consumed during the festival are strays and abductees. Some are transported to the city on filthy, overcrowded trucks, significantly increasing the risk that they carry rabies and other contagious diseases.
Eating, or being in contact with dogs raised in hellish conditions like those on dog meat farms, and fed decomposed garbage contaminated with germs can be hazardous and even fatal!
Bubonic Plague, Camphylobacter, Cutaneous Larval Migrans, Giardiasis, Psittacosis, Rabies, Salmonellosis, Shigellosis, Visceral Larva Migrans, Anthrax, Babesiosis, Brucellosis, Colibacillosis... are just a few of many diseases that can be contracted from these dogs. [2]
Southwest China hospital staff ordered to stay away from ‘dog meat festival’
South China Morning Post reported that the medical staff have been ordered not to eat dog meat amid a growing backlash against an upcoming "dog meat festival" in the southwest mainland. Doctors and nurses were told by health authorities not to eat dog meat in Yulin city in Guangxi province.
Staff from three local hospitals confirmed to the Southern Metropolis Dailyyesterday employees had been told to refrain from eating dog meat in public. A notice of the ban was first posted on Weibo on May 29, 2014.
"According to the directive issued by higher authorities, hospital staff are prohibited from having dog meat at food stalls, restaurants or hotels in Yudong and Fumian districts," the notice read.
Meanwhile, local restaurants serving dog meat have been ordered to cover the word "dog" on their signs, the paper reported on Wednesday.
"Food safety authorities told us to change our signboards due to the objection of certain dog lovers," staff members of a popular dog meat restaurant told the paper.
Last year, China's animal welfare groups and dog lovers bombarded the city with petitions demanding an end to the event.
Celebrities also joined the protest on Weibo this year. Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu Hsi-yuan and mainland actresses Betty Sun Li and Vicki Zhao Wei all openly condemned the slaughter of dogs in online posts. [3]
Staff from three local hospitals confirmed to the Southern Metropolis Dailyyesterday employees had been told to refrain from eating dog meat in public. A notice of the ban was first posted on Weibo on May 29, 2014.
"According to the directive issued by higher authorities, hospital staff are prohibited from having dog meat at food stalls, restaurants or hotels in Yudong and Fumian districts," the notice read.
Meanwhile, local restaurants serving dog meat have been ordered to cover the word "dog" on their signs, the paper reported on Wednesday.
"Food safety authorities told us to change our signboards due to the objection of certain dog lovers," staff members of a popular dog meat restaurant told the paper.
Last year, China's animal welfare groups and dog lovers bombarded the city with petitions demanding an end to the event.
Celebrities also joined the protest on Weibo this year. Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu Hsi-yuan and mainland actresses Betty Sun Li and Vicki Zhao Wei all openly condemned the slaughter of dogs in online posts. [3]
Restaurants in Yulin city have altered their signs to deflect growing anger from animal rights groups. The Chinese characters for dog meat have been covered up. Photo: Weibo
Investigations into slaughterhouses and dog meat markets
Animal Equality have undertaken an intensive investigation into slaughterhouses and the dog meat markets in the Leizhou peninsula and the rest of the province of Guangdong in China.
Dogs raised for the meat markets are often taken from the street or stolen from families. These animals are kept almost their entire lives confined in wire cages where they suffer terribly both physically and psychologically. Whilst in the cramped cages, they are scared. They suffer from hunger, extreme temperatures, and a lack of food and water.
Their deaths are horrific: various blows to the head leave the animals in a semi-conscious state before being stabbed to death. The dogs are bled out and die after agonising minutes whilst struggling in a desperate bid to stay alive.
Dogs raised for the meat markets are often taken from the street or stolen from families. These animals are kept almost their entire lives confined in wire cages where they suffer terribly both physically and psychologically. Whilst in the cramped cages, they are scared. They suffer from hunger, extreme temperatures, and a lack of food and water.
Their deaths are horrific: various blows to the head leave the animals in a semi-conscious state before being stabbed to death. The dogs are bled out and die after agonising minutes whilst struggling in a desperate bid to stay alive.
How to help
By signing the petition from Animal Equality, you are letting the Chinese Government know that you are against the consumption of dog and cat meat, as well as the use of their fur. It is vital to add your signature to the thousands of people who have already joined this campaign to ensure that this practice becomes history, once and for all. Please click on the big button below - the petition site will open in a new tab.
Ask the Guangxi officials to put an end to the mass slaughter and consumption of dogs for the summer solstice event known as the “Dog Meat Festival” to be held in Yulin by signing the petition from the 'Humane Society International' by clicking on the button below - the petition site will open in a new tab.
This was the scene at the 2012 Dog Meat Eating Festival. Pian Shan Kong knelt down in front of the dead dogs in the market, confessing sins and apologizing to the dogs. Take notice of how he is mocked by the employees…
Yulin government to ban the slaughter of dogs IN PUBLIC,
stating that they would lack the legal tools to ban the slaughter and/or consumption of dogs altogether
June 17, 2016 - South China Morning Post reported that the move came after Michael Tien Puk-sun, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, wrote a letter to the NPC Standing Committee in March urging the mainland government to take steps to put an end to the event which has attracted international condemnation.
In a response to Tien’s letter, a representative of the Yulin government said authorities would work towards putting an end to the event as soon as possible, but later admitted that they could not stop people from killing or eating dogs since the mainland has no laws prohibiting animal abuse or the eating of dogs.
According to Tien, the officials said the only action they could take was to ban people from killing dogs in public due to food safety issues.
“This will be a very long process [to outlaw the festival] ... but at least we won’t see these heinous acts [in public],” Tien said.
The NPC deputy said his next step would be to urge Beijing to draft laws against animal abuse. [Mainland officials] indicated that there would be a lot of resistance if they proposed a ban on eating dogs ... But they said there was no reason not to [prohibit] animal abuse.”[4]
In a response to Tien’s letter, a representative of the Yulin government said authorities would work towards putting an end to the event as soon as possible, but later admitted that they could not stop people from killing or eating dogs since the mainland has no laws prohibiting animal abuse or the eating of dogs.
According to Tien, the officials said the only action they could take was to ban people from killing dogs in public due to food safety issues.
“This will be a very long process [to outlaw the festival] ... but at least we won’t see these heinous acts [in public],” Tien said.
The NPC deputy said his next step would be to urge Beijing to draft laws against animal abuse. [Mainland officials] indicated that there would be a lot of resistance if they proposed a ban on eating dogs ... But they said there was no reason not to [prohibit] animal abuse.”[4]
Yulin is everywhere!
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We would stress that any animal sent to any slaughterhouse in any country in the world is to be condemned in equal measure.
While it might be possible to eradicate the dog and cat meat trade and consumption by laws via petitions, only the personal, individual choices by changing to a vegan diet can really be effective in saving the lives of millions of animals that are killed to become food in western societies. ALL methods of slaughter are equally unjust as the domination and exploitation of animals reflects an irrational prejudice towards members of a different species than our own. This prejudice is known as speciesism. |
Sources & references
1) http://saynotodogmeat.net/2014/05/27/china-yulin-dog-meat-festival-looming-closer/
2) http://www.occupyforanimals.net/dog-meat-trade-in-south-korea.html
3) http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1530836/doctors-and-nurses-ordered-stay-away-dog-meat-restaurants-backlash-grows
4) http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1975933/yulin-pledges-ban-slaughter-dogs-public-controversial-food
