By: Occupy for Animals More than 10,000 dogs will be slaughtered during the 2014 Yulin One Day Dog Eating Festival which will be held on 21st of June Yulin One Day Dog Eating Festival is held every year on June 21, to mark the summer solstice where many people in Yulin falsely believe legends which say eating dog meat on June 21st will keep evil spirits away and disease at bay. Each year, around 10,000 dogs are brutally slaughtered and eaten in the province of Zhejang, during the annual festival day, where they are cooked and served with lychees and washed down with lychee wine. Although authorities say the dogs are bred on dog farms, Chinese animal activists say many of the dogs are either stray dogs or pet dogs which are stolen from their owners in the countryside. Yulin is a city with approximately 5.63 million people and the summer solstice festival began in the late 1990s when acceptance of dog eating moved from rural countryside to the city. Once seen as shameful, dog meat was cleverly marketed to be accepted as a mainstream food item. Last year, 2013, animal activists used social media to protest their disgust about Yulin, after horrific photographs were published showing thousands of wretched dogs crammed into iron cages, waiting to be brutally slaughtered as people sat around eating dog meat and lychees. As last years festival commenced, dog after dog was grabbed by the neck and screaming, each dog was bludgeoned with a club then stabbed in the chest, skinned and boiled, then chopped up and served with lychees to waiting families who were eager to start eating. Festival organisers slaughtered dogs in full view of customers to show they were using fresh meat, which is normal practice, but due to the massive number of dogs being slaughtered, when photographs emerged people worldwide were horrified at what they saw. The festival is organised by Yulin locals, not by the Chinese government so pressuring organisers is not as easy as it sounds because they are backed up by government officials who swear every dog meat dog is raised on a dog farm, which is clearly not true. With no animal laws in place, local Yulin people are angered by outsider’s protests against their festival. One local butcher told the Global Times that he does not pay much attention to the safety issue. “It is the government’s job to decide whether it is ok to eat dog or not, my job is to kill them and make money, I don’t ask where they come from,” he said. Li Junqing, Head of Yulin’s Food And Drug Administration, was interviewed at the festival and told the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News: ”If you try to stop people from eating dog meat, they might greet you with a knife.” According to an open letter by the Hong Kong-based NGO Animals Asia, many of the dogs consumed during the festival are strays and abductees. Some are transported to the city on filthy, overcrowded trucks, significantly increasing the risk that they carry rabies and other contagious diseases. Eating, or being in contact with dogs raised in hellish conditions like those on dog meat farms, and fed decomposed garbage contaminated with germs can be hazardous and even fatal! Bubonic Plague, Camphylobacter, Cutaneous Larval Migrans, Giardiasis, Psittacosis, Rabies, Salmonellosis, Shigellosis, Visceral Larva Migrans, Anthrax, Babesiosis, Brucellosis, Colibacillosis... are just a few of many diseases that can be contracted from these dogs. South China Morning Post reported that the medical staff have been ordered not to eat dog meat amid a growing backlash against an upcoming dog meat festival in the southwest mainland. Doctors and nurses were told by health authorities not to eat dog meat in Yulin city in Guangxi province. Staff from three local hospitals confirmed to the Southern Metropolis Dailyyesterday employees had been told to refrain from eating dog meat in public. A notice of the ban was first posted on Weibo on May 29, 2014. According to the directive issued by higher authorities, hospital staff are prohibited from having dog meat at food stalls, restaurants or hotels in Yudong and Fumian districts, the notice read. Meanwhile, local restaurants serving dog meat have been ordered to cover the word dog on their signs, the paper reported on Wednesday. Food safety authorities told us to change our signboards due to the objection of certain dog lovers, staff members of a popular dog meat restaurant told the paper. Last year, Chinas animal welfare groups and dog lovers bombarded the city with petitions demanding an end to the event. Celebrities also joined the protest on Weibo this year. Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu Hsi-yuan and mainland actresses Betty Sun Li and Vicki Zhao Wei all openly condemned the slaughter of dogs in online posts. For pictures, videos (graphic) and the list of references used to compile this article, please see our website, at: occupyforanimals.org/yulin-dog-meat-festival-in-china.html HOW TO HELP 1) Ask the Guangxi officials to put an end to the mass slaughter and consumption of dogs for the summer solstice event known as the “Dog Meat Festival” to be held in Yulin by signing the petition from the Humane Society International https://action.hsi.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=104&ea.campaign.id=20990&ea.tracking.id=website 2) Sign the petition from Animal Equality, and let the Chinese Government know that you are against the consumption of dog and cat meat, as well as the use of their fur. It is vital to add your signature to the thousands of people who have already joined this campaign to ensure that this practice becomes history, once and for all voicelessfriends.org/ 3) Send a personal message to the Chinese embassy in your country. You will find their contact details easily at the following online portal: embassy.goabroad/embassies-of/china For more petitions to sign, please see Tony Zadels link: https://facebook/photo.php?fbid=479748248822273&set=a.110440022419766.11614.100003613067737&type=1&theater
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:51:01 +0000
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