Pets Tourism: Dogs in danger in China

Each year, the Yulin festival brings us its share of horrible images. Eating a dog to mark the summer solstice is a tradition in China’s Guangxi region, where the festival has been held since 2009. Prohibitions are transgressed without complex in a country where it is still very difficult to express oneself freely.

The Yulin Festival is not just a rumor

Despite rumours that the Yulin authorities would completely ban the sale of dog meat last year, many restaurants announced this week the controversial offer with the veiled nickname of « scented meat.

Carcasses were on sale at open-air markets, although fewer than in previous years, according to residents.

More than 10 million dogs

The market downtown was full of buyers snaking in front of piles of dogs at the top of butcher shops to inspect them. Others hung on hooks.

Market workers pulled carts from dead dogs.
Other men burned the fur of poor animals. Outside the Festival, we keep eating dog food!

What the font does ?

According to witnesses, police were patrolling outside the market. Not far from them a woman negotiated the purchase of a dog for 662 yuan (about 90 euros), and specified that she would eat it with her family to celebrate the summer solstice.

Restaurants cooked in narrow alleys or inside their restaurants instead of preparing dogs in front of customers. A real hypocrisy!

Activists can’t stop these monstrosities

Animal rights activists are usually present to buy live dogs during the festival to save them from slaughter. But now they believe there should be a general ban on the dog meat trade to make it more effective.

International animal rights groups agree that a strong focus on eating dog meat in a single city at a festival risks becoming counterproductive.

Some Asian countries are starting to react

In South Korea, where one million dogs are consumed each year, a court ruled that meat consumption was not a legitimate reason to kill dogs. It was the fight of an animal rights group that had told the court that killing dogs « without valid reasons » and « without hygiene rules » was not legal. Last April, Taiwan banned the consumption, purchase and possession of dog and cat meat, with offenders facing fines of up to around €8,000.

A petition for the end of this festival

A petition on Change.org, launched by the Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project, works towards the end of the festival, which began on June 21. The petition requires 4 million signatures and already has over 3 million : https://www.change.org/p/shut-down-the-yulin-dog-meat-festival-in-yulin-guangxi-china