Dog meat festival damages China’s reputation overseas

“The dog meat festival, though not promoted by the local government, is a private and spontaneous activity”, a representative of the Yulin government wrote to Michael Tien, a Hong Kong deputy to China’s National People’s Congress, Channel NewsAsia reported.

Doomed dogs sit forlornly in tiny cages as they are sold for meat ahead of an internationally condemned food festival in these shocking pictures from a Chinese market. “It isn’t and as we see in this poll, most people here don’t eat dogs and believe that the festival damages China’s global reputation”, she said, adding that more than 80 percent of the dogs are stolen pets, according to research by her association.

But not everyone is convinced of the benefits of the meat, and a number of animal rights groups are raising their voices in criticism of the event.

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.

China has no law protecting the welfare of pets but the Ministry of Agriculture has strict rules which require cats and dogs to have “health certificates” before they are transported.

“It is embarrassing to us that the world wrongly believes that the brutally cruel Yulin festival is part of Chinese culture. Having dogs also helps children with autism…dogs need to be cared for and vaccinated”.

With a gruesome dog-killing spectacle about to play out in Yulin, China, in just hours, a new poll of Chinese citizens shows no appetite for the spectacle or the idea of dog eating at all.

According to Xinhua, 64 percent of those asked, aged between 16 to 50, said that they would support a permanent end to the infamous annual event which has been the subject of much worldwide attention in recent years.

Pictures of caged or slaughtered dogs posted online have outraged many people both within and outside China.

However, Li admitted that the rescue operations did not go as smoothly as they expected.

Although the protests focus on Yulin’s festival, canines are butchered and eaten year-round in many places in southern China without attracting worldwide outrage.

“The police presence is heavy in Yulin right now, and the atmosphere is very tense, so this was not an easy rescue”, Li said in a statement.