There are still a couple of months to go before June, the month when Yulin residents celebrate the globally protested dog meat festival; yet, the city’s market vendors can be seen chopping the body parts of dead dogs every day.
The selling of dog meat in Yulin is not really confined during the festival but is actually an “all-year occurrence,” reported the Daily Mail.
“Harrowing.”
That’s how Peter Li, a China policy specialist for Humane Society International, described his visit to slaughterhouses for dogs and cats in Yulin ahead of its festival, according to HSI’s website.
HSI said that some 300 dogs and cats are killed every day in Yulin for their meat.
Li noted that many of the dogs were wearing pet collars, a clear indication that they were stolen.
Animal rights activists complain about the laxity of the laws relating to the violation of animal transport laws and stealing of dogs, according to the Associated Press.
Generally it’s not safe to eat dog meat.
Liu Lang, director of the Beijing Small Animal Veterinary Association, said that consuming dog meat poses health risks because the quarantine regulation on dogs and cats issued by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2015 “is not well enforced,” reported Asia One.
The summer solstice at the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region not only announces the coming of summer but also the celebration of the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, more commonly called as the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.
The annual celebration--or simply mass slaughtering of dogs and cats for animal lovers--sparks protests here and abroad, including those by a string of personalities from the entertainment world.
From local stars such as Fan Bingbing, Yang Mi and Chen Kun to international celebrities such as Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, British singer Leona Lewis, American hotel heiress Paris Hilton and American actor Ian Somerhalder, these popular figures all condemn the act.
The Humane Society International also gets support from various organizations.
HIS said on its website that the Capital Animal Welfare Association, China Animal Protection Power, Hong Kong SPCA, The Ta Foundation and the VShine Animal Protection support its #StopYulin campaign.