Photo: humane society international
Activists and local government officials rescued 126 dogs from an “illegal slaughterhouse” in north-central China, according to Humane Society International(HSI).
In a group effort, animal activist groups Vshine and Baoji Small Animal Protection Association teamed up with law enforcement officers and the mayor of China’s Fufeng County to find and shut down an “illegal slaughterhouse,” per a release from HSI.
The rescue mission happened about 1,000 miles from where theYulin Dog Meat Festivalwas coming to a close after ten days, HSI added.
“Inside they found a gruesome scene with dead dogs on the floor, pools of blood, dehairing machines, and knives,” HSI said of what rescuers found in the slaughterhouse. “The activists also reported that processed dog meat was found at the facility. A pile of pet collars was found in the corner of the slaughterhouse, and some of the 126 dogs found alive were also wearing collars, disturbing proof that pet dogs — likely stolen from homes, streets, and farms many miles away —are all too often being killed for meat.”
humane society international
Ziyang Huang continued, “The amount of pet collars we found was really shocking, and the gentle, friendly nature of these dogs tells us probably most of them were once part of a home and somehow ended up at that terrible place. That’s just one of the reasons why we campaign to end this cruel dog meat trade.”
Days beforethe Yulin Dog Meat Festival began on June 21, animal activists and law enforcement “intercepted a dog truck headed for slaughter in Yulin, confiscating all 386 dogs on board,” per HSI.
Peter Li, the HSI’s China policy expert, toldNewsweekthat the dog meat festival, also known as the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, was created in 2009/2010 to boost dog meat sales in the area.
“It has no cultural origins in Yulin, in fact, before that date, dog meat consumption was never part of the local mainstream food culture, and the ‘festival’ had never existed. Even now, opinion polls show that most people living in Yulin don’t eat dog meat,” Li toldNewsweek.
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Li added that while dog meat is not a part of China’s “mainstream food culture,” there are towns and cities in Guangxi, where Yulin is located, that sell the meat for consumption.
According to HSI,opinion pollsshow that 72% of citizens in Yulin don’t regularly eat dog meat and that opposition to the practice is growing across China. In 2020, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairsofficially stated that dogs are companion animals, not livestock. Additionally, that same year, two major cities in China — Shenzhen and Zhuhai — banned the consumption of dog and cat meat.
Dog meat consumption has also been banned in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, the Siem Reap province in Cambodia, and in 17 cities and regencies in Indonesia. Despite the bans, an estimated 30 million dogs are still killed each year for meat, HSI reported.
source: people.com
