A animal activist kneeling in front of the butchered dogs asking
for forgiveness while dog meat traders watched in amusement
for forgiveness while dog meat traders watched in amusement
First of all, I am a dog person so don't come argue with me about the plight of chicken and pigs. Call me a hypocrite if you will. I know, pigs are intelligent creatures too but that is not the point of this post so let's just keep it at that.
What I am going to share here is a video of a China program that features about this annual dog meat festival at Yulin, Guangxi. I am appalled to learn that there is actually a festival dedicated to men's best friend although it's for the wrong reason!
Apparently, the locals organised this festival to mark the summer solstice in the southern Guangxi province, where they feasted on dog meat with lychee wine.
Despite protests, Government officials said that they could not close the festival as it was organised by locals, and not the government.
Animal rights activists estimated that over 10,000 dogs will be consumed during the one-day festival. Sadly, there is no law that prohibits the consumption of dog meat in China.
What angers me was the mistreatment of the dogs who were crammed in wire cages and how they were being whacked on the head with poles.
And it isn't just mongrels that were being eaten. A puppymill trader had brought in his nine years old female Golden Retriever to be slaughtered. The purebreed had just delivered her last litter and could produce no more so the trader wanted to consume her meat for the festival.
Animal activists offered to buy over the Golden Retriever from the puppymill trader without success. The subsequent time they saw the dog, it was already dead. In another footage, an unconcious Samoyed held down by clamps was seen being dragged across the ground. The animal activist who witnessed it said that the dog was deliberately made to die a slow, painful death so its blood could be completely drained.
Although the dog meat traders claimed that their dogs were sourced from dog farms, it is believed that a part of them were strays caught off the streets or abducted from their homes.
You can find out more about this atrocious festival here if you read chinese or simply by googling for "Yuling Dog Meat Festival" (玉林荔枝狗肉节).
Last year (2012), Chengdu TV’s current affair show "30 Minutes of Truth" aired a special report about the truth of the dog meat festival in Yulin. This is the first time that television media has stood up and reported on the Yulin dog section of the festival. The host brings to the audience the culture of eating dog in Yulin, showing the irony that this dish will have no chance of being shown on "China On The Tip Of The Tongue" a popular documentary showing famous Chinese dishes.
During the summer solstice of 2012, Yulin celebrated in a big way by hosting their ‘Dog Meat Festival’ where everyone ate dog meat and lychees and drank beer and even before the festival started, many Chinese animal lovers had already condemned the festival, many even urging the public to boycott it. Even under great pressure by Chinese animal lovers, the festival still went ahead and this hurt Du and her volunteers greatly. Du announced on Weibo shortly after her trip urging the public to unite against Yulin Dog Meat Festival so that the China’s image won't be tarnished and to push for the legislation of the Animal Protection Law.
Animal right activists will never give up the fight to end the Yulin dog meat festival. Last year (2012), on June 21st, Du and her team of 8 animal lovers travelled all the way from Sichuan & Hebei Provinces to Yulin in Guangxi Province (approx 1000 miles & 1,300 miles respectively) to demonstrate against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. They found that every stall was full of dogs in cages. They captured gory scenes of killing that caused public outcry.
Du says in the video that she wants to expose how this barbaric act can be called "treasured culture". Du and every one of her volunteers cried seeing the level of cruelty. The butchers claimed they never kill pedigrees, but Du recorded them killing a Samoyed and a Golden Retriever. Du explains in the video to the news station that one man brought his Golden Retriever to the festival.
Du said on her Weibo recently “This is the first time that television media has stood up and reported on the Yulin dog section of the festival. Thank you Chengdu TV! I hope you resist the Yulin festival in Guangxi because this runs counter to the Chinese civilization. The Yulin dog section is cruel & bloody”.
We are currently raising money to help Du to build a bigger shelter for the dogs rescued from the meat trade. She recently rescued some dogs from this year (2013) in Yulin before the Festival started, with the help of some monks.
Watch the video below: