Latest Facts About China's Yulin Dog Meat Festival

• Humane Society International, Beijing Mothers Against Cruelty and VShine submitted a petition in Beijing signed by more than 11 million people around the world.
• By Karen Ostlund, source HSI.org

Photos by AP Images for HSI

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Also read last year's (2015) story in this blog about Yulin Dog Meat Festival:
http://westhollywoodtoday.blogspot.com/2015/06/has-yulin-dog-meat-festival-become.html

Activists Demonstrate in China to Shut Down Yulin dog Meat Festival

   Human Society of United States' (HSI.org) team in Yulin (China) reported that the atmosphere in the Yulin city is tense, but so far evidence suggests reduced killing and less visible dog meat eating than in previous years. And today, the Yulin authorities set up road checkpoints to stop incoming trucks filled with dogs and cats, a key proposal that HSI and its partners in China have lobbied for. As many animals will have already been brought to Yulin, however, HSI urges the government to take more decisive steps such as shutting down the slaughterhouses. 

A dog meat dish during Yulin Dog Meat Festival

 Peter Li, China policy specialist for HSI, said from Yulin: "Yulin feels like a place that's holding its breath right now. Business was slow at the Dongkou animal market, and a dreadful slaughterhouse exposed by Humane Society International a couple of months ago was shut down when we returned yesterday. Another slaughterhouse we visited was open but we saw  no live animals. The word 'dog' has been painted out or covered with tape on several of the restaurants and slaughterhouses we saw, and a Yulin official told us that, contrary to what has been reported in some media, dog meat sales have in fact been declining continuously.

"We're still seeing market stalls and mopeds piled with the typical brown blowtorched bodies of dogs, but as yet nothing like the scale we feared. It's a muted Yulin for sure. The authorities seem nervous and are warning dog and cat traders not to engage with us and alerting government employees to stay away from the dog meat restaurants."

Dogs and cats arrive in cages to Yulin Dog meat festival
Under China’s "one certificate per dog" rules, all trucks shipping live dogs and cats across provincial boundaries are supposed to have an individual health certificate for each animal. Advocates with China Animal Protection Power, a coalition sponsored by HSI that since 2014 has rescued tens of thousands of dogs from these trucks, report that most truckers fail to conform to this national policy and have either no certificates or have produced fraudulent documents. They find the majority of dogs and cats are stolen pets or strays.

HSI undertook its own Yulin rescue mission this year, and saved 29 dogs (8 puppies) and five cats from a slaughter facility in the area.After the rescue, activists then transported the animals to a shelter where they were fed and evaluated and seen by vets before being prepared for adoption.While it is expected homes in China will be found for many of the animals, but some may be flown to the UK and the US for adoption.

HSI.org rescue in warehouse 29 dogs (8 puppies) + 3 cats  June 16 2016

Latest video on dog rescue, June 23 2016: Marc Ching, an American activist and owner of an organic pet food company, travelled to Yulin to recuse dogs kept in nearby compounds before the event. Watch This Guy Rescued 1,000 Dogs From China's Dog Meat Festival Video https://youtu.be/L6kF0N03coo

Meanwhile, Chinese advocates from Humane Society International (HSI) were able to rescue animals in captivity that were going to be slaughtered for the feast ahead of the festival in Yulin. "Some of them wore collars", said Peter Li, China policy specialist at Humane Society International

" Over the past few years, as calls to end Yulin's dog meat event have gained momentum, local governments have responded by disassociating themselves from dog-eating festivals. "An unprecedented 8 million Chinese voted online in support of lawmaker Zheng Xiaohe's legislative proposal during the National People's Congress in March to ban the illegal dog and cat meat trade", Xinhua report said. 

Horror scene of cruelty at Yulin, dog beaten to death roped at a tree

 

World Dog Day Oct. 4 2015 Protest outside China's Consulate in LA
lead by StopYulinForever.org "Dogs are friends-NOT food"

 

Lisa Vanderpump at MacArthur Park before 1000 people marched to China's
Consulate to protest Yulin Dog Meat Festival

                                
Celebrities as Vanderpump (Bravo TV's Beverly Hills Housewives), Lewis and Warren (www.stopyulinforever.org/the-team)  inspire more animal lovers to take action and help find a way to end the Yulin Dog Meat Festival for good. 

The local government has pledged to shut down the dog meat festival and animal rights group have urged the Yulin government to do more to stop dog killings. 

Domestic opposition continues to rise too, with The Independent reporting that a June petition addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping was signed by more than 11 million people.

Market crowd during China's Yulin dog meat festival

The first day of Yulin festival (June 21st) on Jiangbin Road, "dog street" for the cluster of dog meat restaurants there, a line formed as people waited for  restaurants to start hanging their dog meat and prepare for dinner at 6 p.m. 

Dogs are not just pet-animals but also a popular delicacy for some people in China. Thousands of dogs are being held across Yulin and will be killed for the festival, HSI claims. "Like so many others, he (the dog) had probably been a household pet and was stolen from his family for this meat trade". In recent years, other dog meat festivals have been banned by Chinese authorities after protesters drew attention to them. More than 55 percent of respondents from Guangxi think the Yulin festival does not damage how China is perceived internationally, while more than 67 percent from outside Guangxi think the opposite. However, China's Food and Drug Administration has no legal certification system in place for dog or cat meat, meaning their sale violates food safety laws. 

Facts 2016: A new poll conducted by Chinese polling company Horizon, and commissioned by Chinese group China Animal Welfare Association in collaboration with HSI and Avaaz, found that most Chinese citizens want the Yulin festival to end, saying it blackens China’s image.

• 64 percent support the end of the Yulin festival
• 51.7 percent say the dog meat trade should be completely banned
• 62 percent think Yulin damages China’s reputation
• 69.5 percent have never eaten dog meat.
• It’s not a traditional festival, it was only invented in 2010 by dog traders to boost profits.
• Before the festival started, Yulin had no history of mass dog slaughter and consumption.
• An estimated 30 million dogs a year are killed across Asia for their meat, some 10-20 million in China alone, and thousands die just for Yulin.
• The World Health Organisation warns that the dog trade spreads rabies and increases the risk of cholera 20-fold.
• Humane Society International, Beijing Mothers Against Cruelty and VShine submitted a petition in Beijing signed by more than 11 million people around the world.

Mercy For Animals, ASPCA.org and PETA.org are other organizations which support to shut down Yulin Dog/Cat Meat Festival forever.They marched for this cause at the LAPride Parade in West Hollywood June 11 2016.

LA Pride Parade in West Hollywood (USA) June 11 2016