Macabre festival in China: the dog meat festival kicks off despite protests

Macabre festival in China: the dog meat festival kicks off despite protests

The protests of the animal rights activists and the international appeals have been of no use. The dog meat festival kicks off this week as planned. It is a grisly annual celebration that takes place in the Chinese city of Yulin in Guangxi province. According to The Guardian, the event is considered an ancient tradition born to celebrate the summer solstice. For this the inhabitants are called to "love the culture of dog meat, including the mass consumption of dog stew served with lychees and wheat liqueur".



He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him



The protests of the animal rights activists and the international appeals have been of no use. The dog meat festival starts this week as expected. It is a grisly annual celebration that takes place in the Chinese city of Yulin in Guangxi province.

According to The Guardian, the event is considered an ancient tradition born to celebrate the summer solstice. For this reason, the inhabitants are called to "love the culture of dog meat, including the mass consumption of dog stew served with lychees and wheat liqueur".

But animal rights groups protest: the festival is cruel. Activists say around 10.000 dogs, often transported and detained in horrific conditions, are killed during the festival every year. Many are burned, electrocuted and skinned alive. "We saw animals beaten before they were cooked," explains Du Yufeng, founder of the animal rights group Boai Small Animal Protection Center, which over the last few years has tried to stop the event, including appealing to the governments of China. and the United States.

But, despite this and the promises to abolish it in recent years, the festival has continued to take place every year. And 2013 will be no exception. The Chinese government, in response to pressure from "online activism", will send a team to monitor the event this year to ward off excessive animal cruelty. The measure will not be enough, but for Du Yufeng it is at least a start.

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Yulin, intent on preparing for this Friday's feast, rebel: “it is unfair to call Yulin's people brutal just because they have this tradition of eating dog meat. People who call us uncivilized and cruel they should stop eating meat first ", a local resident told the Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post.



Roberta Ragni

READ also:

- In China, the historic Dog Meat Festival abolished

–The horrors of the dog meat market. The investigation of Animal Equality (video)

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