Some 60 dogs and cats have been rescued from a certain death at the hands of butchers at the Yulin Dog Meat festival – however, this is ‘just a drop in the ocean’, animal campaigners have warned.
The annual festival, which began around 2010, sees dogs and cats – who are often stolen pets – brutally tortured and killed in the street before they are made into dishes for stalls and restaurants to serve.
Over the 10-day event, which is now underway, it is thought that up to 10,000 dogs and 5,000 cats are killed and eaten.
However, some animals will now avoid this fate, after being saved by campaigners with London-based charity NoToDogMeat, which is raising money to continue its rescue efforts.
They bargained for the lives of eight dogs at a slaughterhouse described as ‘unsanitary’, learning in the process that the dogs had been fed on dead puppy meat.
Workers with London-based charity NoToDogMeat have rescued 60 dogs and cats from a certain death at the Yulin festival (pictured: some of the rescued dogs)
Authorities have now been told about the facility in Nanning city, which kills around 100 dogs a day.
However, animal advocates say there is little the police and council are doing to stop the slaughter.
There is a thriving dog meat trade in Nanning, with the meat being sold by shops and restaurants to tourists and locals as a health tonic.
Qin Xi Zhao, leading the operation, who runs NoToDogMeat shelter in Heibei, said: ‘This has been a devastating time for campaigners, I have no words.
‘In total we have saved around 60 animals, dogs, cats and puppies, but that is just a drop in the ocean.
‘We have seen killing methods at Yulin this year that we haven’t seen for 10 years and have even been warned away by authorities about our presence at the festival, like we are spoiling the fun.
‘We feel like we are losing the fight but will not stop trying to end this cruelty.’
The rescued animals (including this dog) ‘will need urgent veterinary and behavioural care as they recover from trauma’ says the charity
Alongside rescuing dogs, NoToDogMeat has also saved 26 cats.
According to the organisation, the cats were ‘set to be boiled alive with live snakes to create a gruesome Tiger Dragon Fight soup’.
Shelters, including NoToDogMeat’s shelters in Hebei and Beijing, will take in all of the rescues, who will need urgent veterinary and behavioural care as they recover from trauma.
London lawyer Julia de Cadenet founded NoToDogMeat in 2009, after witnessing for herself the horrors of the cruel trade.
She said: ‘This year, now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted it is like the lust for cruelty and a spectacle is keener than ever.
A number of cats (including this kitten) were also saved. The charity says some of the cats were due to be boiled alive, alongside live snakes, as part of a ‘Tiger Dragon Fight soup’
‘It is very disturbing that members of the general public do not seem to be repulsed by what is going on around them, and that the authorities have done nothing to enforce their own rules on this trade.’
According to the charity, dogs are not classed as food in China after a decree by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2021.
This, it says, should have effectively outlawed the festival, but ‘local authorities are reluctant to enforce the ban due to the money it brings to the area’.
Julia continued: ‘This is nothing to do with culture or tradition, everyone knows that being cruel to animals is wrong, and this festival which started in 2009 needs to end.
‘Shame on the authorities, and the people of Yulin who stand by and let this happen.’
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