IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
Thousands of dogs and cats slaughtered at China festival despite government promises to crack down
Sellers kept the dogs dozens to a cage before electrocuting and skinned them alive, before serving them with lychee
Dogs are kept in a cage at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin Photo: Reuters
By Charlotte Middlehurst, Shanghai
4:09PM BST 21 Jun 2015
Thousands of cats and dogs have been slaughtered at the Yulin Festival despite government promises to end the practice which has been condemned internationally on grounds of animal cruelty.
Hundreds of traders gathered in China’s southern Guangxi province on Sunday for the annual feast where dogs are served with lychees to mark the summer solstice.
Local authorities failed to honour pledges to ban the festival following an online petition signed by half a million people.
Hundreds of thousands of tweets have been posted using the hashtag #StopYulin2015.
Actor Ricky Gervais and Leona Lewis, the singer, have denounced the festival, where every year animals are kept dozens to a cage before being electrocuted, burned and skinned while alive and conscious.
Vendors wait for customers as dogs are kept in a cage at Dashichang dog market (Reuters)
On Sunday, campaigners blockaded streets, raided slaughterhouses and bought animals in an attempt to save them from the cooking pot.
“Workers were blow-torching the carcasses to make them shiny and ready for shipment to restaurants," said Peter Li, a campaigner for the Humane Society China, adding. "There were some dogs still alive in wire cages, but they looked exhausted, emaciated and dirty.”
One 65 year-old Chinese woman, Yang Xiaoyun, was among the animal lovers who turned up rescue those still alive. Ms Yang paid roughly 7,000 Yuan (£720) to save 100 dogs.
Andrea Gung executive director of the Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project and videographer Eric Peltier stayed up through the night to save the animals and document their conditions but were chased away from by angry locals brandishing sticks had entrails thrown at them.
Last year, Yulin’s government announced plans to ban public slaughter and advertising using words “dog meat,” amid public outcry. However, business went ahead as usual for many vendors, although there were reports that the festival had been scaled back.
Dogs and cats which were purchased by animal right activists in order to rescue them from dog dealers (Reuters)
Officially, 10,000 dogs and 4,000 cats were killed in 2014 but DuoDuo estimates the figure at around 40,000 dogs and 10,000 cats.
In March, Li Jun Qing, head of Yulin's Food And Drug Administration, reinstated that the government did not endorse the festival.
The slaughter of cats and dogs for meat is not outlawed in China. Food safety regulators have increasingly spoken out about the health risks.
Many of the "meat dogs" in the country are stolen pets and strays, according to an investigation published this month by Hong Kong-based charity Animals Asia.
The festival was started by the city’s dog meat traders in 2009-2010.
A dog's dinner: A vendor with dogs destined for the dinner plate in Yulin. Photo: Reuters
The city of Yulin, notorious for its annual dog meat festival that celebrates the summer solstice, appeared calm on Monday - in contrast to the previous two events, at which animal rights activists clashed with festivalgoers.
Dog meat vendors in the city's wet markets kept a low profile, with local authorities ordering them to cover their stall fronts with iron sheets and serve customers through small windows.
This was to avoid stoking arguments between the vendors and animal rights activists who had arrived from across the country to protest, according to one activist, "Xijing", who had come from Shaanxi.
Local officials had also blocked the road to Dongkou market, one of the city's biggest wet markets, for a short period while reporters were shown around, the activist said.
An activist from Guangdong said little had improved - slaughterhouses were merely more hidden, while local government and residents remained hostile to the activists. "Volunteers were harassed, but police ignored our reports," she said.
Days earlier, activists from across the country had started to flood into the small city in Guangxi province, to protest against the festival, which kills and serves up thousands of dogs every year.
Keeping dogs as pets was once seen as a decadent bourgeois habit, but the practice has become increasingly popular with the Chinese mainland's growing middle class, who are increasing efforts to stop the dog meat trade.
Activists from Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Hebei, Henan and Shaanxi gathered in front of the local government headquarters and unfurled banners, before being hustled away.
Adam Parascandola, a senior activist from Humane Society International who has spent 20 years protecting animal rights in the United States, said the movement against dog meat made him "hopeful" for an end to the Yulin festival and ultimately a ban on dog meat.
"Dogs are treated cruelly, but we see how organised and passionate the activists are," he said. "They are really brave for what they believe in, and this movement against dog meat eating is a movement from within China."
