Chinese animal rights activists stage a march with posters calling for people to refrain from eating cats and dogs, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo : Getty Images)
The China Youth Animal Protection Alliance and Dongbaowang.org teamed up with Animals Asia in organizing a poster tour that enabled over 160,000 people to see students' artworks about cat and dog welfare.
The tour visited a total of 78 universities, schools and shopping malls across China. Hundreds of those who attended the tour wrote their own opinions and responses regarding their close relationship with companion animals.
A student from Hubei University of Science and Technology wrote: "Animals are forever our friends. To protect animals is to protect ourselves."
"Your loving heart disappears the moment you swallow cat or dog meat," a student from the Central University of Finance and Economics wrote, urging others not to eat cats and dogs.
Other students who participated in the project focused on the nationwide scourge of dog thieves.
A student from the Jiangxi Agricultural University feared for her dog, Ziyang, writing, "Ziyang, be careful and stay away from bad guys--don’t get nabbed."
"I miss my two dogs Huihui and Barton very much! I hope everyone loves animals. Please do not raise them without learning how to be a responsible guardian." This is written by another student from the Central University of Finance and Economics, urging more responsible dog guardianship.
The majority of the written notes shows details of how people feel toward animals, and how they should be living in harmony to enrich human lives.
It is reported that about 10 million dogs are slaughtered in China every year for meat trade. Animals Asia released a series of in-depth reports in June 2015 regarding the rampant illegality of this trade.
This report took four years to compile. It showed that the country contained no large-scale dog breeding facilities despite the huge number of dogs slaughtered for consumption annually.
Irene Feng, the director of Animals Asia's Cat and Dog Welfare, said: "The written responses to the poster tour really touched us. We read as many as we could and were blown away by the strength of emotion--both in the importance of animal protection and the aversion to the cat and dog meat trades."
