Chinese city holds dog-meat festival early to avoid animal-rights protests

[Jiyong's Wifey]

Chinese vendors transport cages of dogs to be killed and eaten at the Yulin annual summer solstice festival. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex

Residents in a southern Chinese city that has come under fire for an annual summer solstice festival in which thousands of dogs are slaughtered for food have held their feasts early to avoid attention.

Some residents of Yulin started gathering last weekend and eating dog meat and lychees to celebrate the longest day of the year, before Saturday's actual solstice, state media reported. The residents wanted to avoid protests by animal-rights activists.

In recent years, the festival has been targeted by activists who have drummed up public awareness of the event with posts on social media and online petitions, and descended on the city to protest outside slaughterhouses or markets where the dogs are sold.

The public uproar reflects the increasing affluence of ordinary Chinese people, who keep pets, travel overseas and are changing attitudes towards traditions they may not have questioned.

Photos on state media showed groups of Yulin city residents tucking into plates of meat and vegetables around dining tables strewn with lychees. Other photos, which circulated widely on Chinese microblogs, were of skinned, cooked dogs hanging from hooks at street stalls or piled on tables.

Under the Yulin tradition, eating dog and lychee and drinking alcohol on the solstice is supposed to make people stay healthy during winter. It is unclear whether the supposed health benefits diminish if the feast is had before the actual solstice.

Animal-rights activists say the event is a public health risk because the dogs undergo no quarantine to ensure they are free of disease, and that they are strays grabbed off streets around the country, as well as allegedly stolen from pet-owners. The dogs are often poisoned with toxic chemicals that could be harmful to humans, they say.

Deng Yidan, an activist with Animals Asia, said the public backlash hurt the image of Yulin and China.

"Negative coverage is growing – dog theft, criminal activities, food hygiene issues and rabies fears – not to mention the division in society between those for and against the festival – together these have brought significantly more negative publicity to Yulin than economic benefits," Deng said.

The Yulin government has sought to distance itself from the feasting, saying it was not officially endorsed.

State media reports said the government had told restaurants to remove references to dog meat from their menus and signboards – though it did not bar the sale and consumption of the meat, which is not illegal in China.

The government has denied the formal existence of such a festival, saying it was a culinary habit practised only by some businesses and people.

Public pressure stopped another dog meat festival in eastern Zhejiang province, which was cancelled in 2011 despite being a holiday dating back hundreds of years.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/18/chinese-dog-meat-festival-held-early-animal-rights-protests

 

 

 

 

Do you have pets?

 

 

 

[Rice Cake]

imagine the dogs eating you i wouldnt want that

[Irrelephant]

that's a lot of persistence 

[SATANIC SLUT]

i mean.. there's nothing wrong with eating dog meat, but doing it in such a cruel manner is what pisses me off.

[Symphonyâ„¢]

i mean.. there's nothing wrong with eating dog meat, but doing it in such a cruel manner is what pisses me off.

Same

[Arietta]

the way the dogs are treated is horrible

[LoveYouRight.EXO]

KFC, BurgerKing ... etc

I don't want to say anything against them since we all eat animals generally, I can't imagine dogs taste  , but they used to eat them so let it be!!

[High Fructose Yoongi Syrup]

well i just really hate it when animals suffer

 

they deserve better 

[Rapmon's Ahjussi Husband]

How it's nothing wrong with eating dog meat WTF !!!??, such an ignorant and disgusting culture

[SATANIC SLUT]

How it's nothing wrong with eating dog meat WTF !!!??, such an ignorant and disgusting culture

lmao. you eat fucking cows, pigs, chickens, goats, etc. and a lot of them are slaughtered inhumanely, but when it comes to dogs it's suddenly "disgusting." how are dogs any different? just because we have them as pets? please, let's not be so hypocritical.

[jyuritan]

do not like

[goddess1]

I've eaten dog meat before and it actually tastes really good

 

Doesn't mean it's right though...

[CANCAN]

I want a dog, give me one instead of eating it

[Ambi]

lmao. you eat fucking cows, pigs, chickens, goats, etc. and a lot of them are slaughtered inhumanely, but when it comes to dogs it's suddenly "disgusting." how are dogs any different? just because we have them as pets? please, let's not be so hypocritical.

Finally, someone that gets it

[Rapmon's Ahjussi Husband]

lmao. you eat fucking cows, pigs, chickens, goats, etc. and a lot of them are slaughtered inhumanely, but when it comes to dogs it's suddenly "disgusting." how are dogs any different? just because we have them as pets? please 

Dogs have a strong bond with humans ( in the west at least), I don't eat my best friend; in most homes they are another member of the family, so yeah fck that sh*t, I clean my arse with the cultural arguments, you just don't eat dogs

[Slowpoke X]

I've eaten dog meat before and it actually tastes really good

 

Doesn't mean it's right though...

really?

 

to me their taste seems overrated like with free-range chickens (and other birds)

[cornangel]

lmao. you eat fucking cows, pigs, chickens, goats, etc. and a lot of them are slaughtered inhumanely, but when it comes to dogs it's suddenly "disgusting." how are dogs any different? just because we have them as pets? please, let's not be so hypocritical.

 

do you have a dog/cat?

[SATANIC SLUT]

Dogs have a strong bond with humans ( in the west at least), I don't eat my best friend; in most homes they are another member of the family, so yeah fck that sh*t, I clean my arse with the cultural arguments, you just don't eat dogs

so just because it's not socially acceptable to eat dogs in your culture, it makes it ok to insult another culture because of it? people in india don't eat cows, i bet they say the same thing about your "ignorant and disgusting" culture for doing so.

[ANTI-IKON]

i mean.. there's nothing wrong with eating dog meat, but doing it in such a cruel manner is what pisses me off.

It's also a sanitation and health issue. Stealing dogs from their owners in order to hold an annual dog eating festival is unacceptable. That's theft.

I don't know why meat eaters question other cultures eating dog meat. It's cultural difference. Dogs in China are what cows are in the west. I'm a vegetarian...Either way I don't condone the cruel manner in which these dogs are killed.

[Rapmon's Ahjussi Husband]

so just because it's not socially acceptable to eat dogs in your culture, it makes it ok to insult another culture because of it? people in india don't eat cows, i bet they say the same thing about your "ignorant and disgusting" culture for doing so.

A cow don't cheer you up everytime you comeback home, or gets happy when she sees you, it doesn't sleep in your bed, so feel whatever you want about it because it's wrong, I understand you live overpopulated and poluted, but that doesn't make it right to eat anything that crawls, ok ...

[acclaim]

I'm sorta fine with people eating dogs, But locking them in cages cruelly is dumq as hell.

Same goes for the treatment of puppy/chicken mills here.

[Arietta]

How it's nothing wrong with eating dog meat WTF !!!??, such an ignorant and disgusting culture

 

are you a vegetarian? 

[Rapmon's Ahjussi Husband]

are you a vegetarian? 

I do eat fish, so I dunno what I am, I'm in an strict diet for more than 2 years now

[SATANIC SLUT]

A cow don't cheer you up everytime you comeback home, or gets happy when she sees you, it doesn't sleep in your bed, so feel whatever you want about it because it's wrong, I understand you live overpopulated and poluted, but that doesn't make it right to eat anything that crawls, ok ..

let's be mature about this instead of bringing up romanticized views about dogs, k? dogs are just like any other animal, the only difference is that in western cultures, they are considered pets.

 

and i don't know if you know this, but all of china is not fucking polluted. just because you read some stories about pollution in chinese cities doesn't mean all of china is like that. stupid fuck

[ANTI-IKON]

I do eat fish, so I dunno what I am, I'm in an strict diet for more than 2 years now

Some vegetarians eat fish.