Since 2009, an annual Lychee and Dog Meat Festival is held in Yulin, China. At this annual summer prominence festival, an estimated of 10,000 dogs are killed, skinned, and consumed in this southern Chinese town. These 10,000+ dogs are placed in some of the most extreme environments where they face cruel treatment and conditions as they await their execution.
A very widespread debate sets off with this annual festival revolving around animal welfare and the limits of multicultural tolerance. Animal rights activists are seeking to shut down this annual festival as it serves to extreme cruelty to animals and to unhygienic food handling practices. With the date for this festival being set to June 21st, two weeks prior animal rights activists have been working diligently to having this festival shut down. An international coalition of animal welfare advocates presented a petition with more than 11 million signatures to the Chinese Embassy in London Tuesday, June 7th, 2016.
Images like the one above have ignited outrage across the map as people are throwing efforts in order to stop this disgusting festival. Questions by the animal welfare advocates are being raised about the sources of these dogs. Were they stolen pets? Were they strays? As for the people that attend and indulge in this festival, they believe that it is a way of expressing their cultural heritage, while arguing that this is no different than others eating pigs or cows. While we see dogs as a companion... they see them as dinner.
In People's Daily, a commentary by Chang Jiwen, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and two of his students posted their survey on the CCTV (China's national broadcaster) website, where they found that 64 percent of respondents believe that eating dogs should be banned.
Many efforts have been raised in order to stop this festival. As I write this article, my stomach cringes with nothing but disgust and rage. Be part of the movement and END this cruel and unruly festival that takes the lives of 10,000 sweet, helpless animals. Many petitions are underway, sign a petition and take a stand.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-yulin-dog-meat-e...
