An annual dog meat festival in south-west China has begun, amid uproar on the part of animal rights activists. About 10,000 dogs will be slaughtered for their meat at the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in Yulin in Guangxi province on Sunday and Monday to mark the summer solstice, state media said. One retired school teacher from Tianjin hit the headlines when she purchased dozens of dogs to save them. Residents and vendors in Yulin say the animals are killed in a humane way. Activists say the killing is cruel and an online campaign to ban the festival has been signed by more than 3.8 million people so far and the campaign has attracted considerable support this year from celebrities both domestic and foreign. Celebrities including British comedian Ricky Gervais have spoken out on Twitter with the hashtag #StopYuLin2015. Chinese pop star Chen Kun and actor Yang Mi have said they are joining the campaign on micro blogging site Weibo. And Chinese actor Fan Bingbing and others posted a video online against the festival. please log in to view this image The festival began a few years ago according to state media. The tradition of eating dog meat dates back four or five hundred years in China, South Korea and other countries, as it is believed to ward off the heat of the summer months, according to state news agency Xinhua. However, this festival began in recent years, Xinhua said. City officials have distanced themselves from the gathering. "Some residents of Yulin have the habit of coming together to eat lychees and dog meat during the summer solstice," the city's news office wrote on Weibo. "The 'summer solstice lychee and dog meat festival' is a commercial term, the city has never [officially] organised a 'dog meat festival'," it added. As in recent years, some animal lovers resorted to buying some of the dogs in order to rescue them. Yang Xiaoyun, the retired school teacher, paid about 7,000 yuan ($1,100; £710) to save 100 dogs on Saturday.
Only issue is the way they are kept. Nothing wrong with killing dogs for their meat. We do it cows, lambs, pigs etc. much like the uproar with horse, lots of countries eat horse yet we are outraged by it because it's different. As as long as it's not a protected species see no problem with it, that's life unfortunately. We need to branch out and eat other things, in 30 years time we'll all be eating bugs as the we'd have exhausted the supply of others.
I know in some countries killing of dog (for meat) is used to appease their Gods Dog being man's best friend must not be treated in a bad way. Dogs are not respected in some countries as we respect dogs in this country.
Yeah mate, we're going to run out of cows and chickens As for eating dogs it's ****ing disgusting. Dogs are domestic pets not cattle, there's plenty of choices for protein before resorting to canines.
It's well known we're going to have to resort to other means like bugs. And its it's only a label we give them, why is it any more disgusting eating dogs than cows.. It's only disgusting because we're not used to it. Many people find eating bugs or animals brains weird but other countries do then
Please explain why in 30 years time we'll have to resort to eating bugs in the Uk.Thanks in advance Dogs are domesticated, they interact with humans in a way that farm animals do not, resorting to canines as a source of protein is not something that anyone who's ever kept a dog as a pet would consider to be acceptable.
People keep Pigs as pets? Does that make eating Pigs unacceptable? Cows are sacred to certain religions, bet you fancy a burger a or 2 every now and again. I don't think its right eating dogs but it would make me a hypocrite to eat other meat from other animals who do have brains and then to criticise people who eat dogs.
Only the odd ****er keeps a pig as a pet ffs. Not arsed about religion, or whether eating cattle i.e. pigs and cows contravenes some ancient bullshit belief about them being sacred. Eating dogs in the West is seen as being abhorent, particularly in the UK as we're a Nation of dog lovers. You're of Chinese origin aren't you?
The answer to the first question is simple.....Gerrez has eaten everything else and bugs are all that remain.... Many of these people don't see them as pets....I'm not saying it's right or wrong but my ma has ducks and no way am I taking crispy duck off my chippy options I watched Babe and still eat bacon butties so don't feel in the position to lecture others about eating dogs Seriously though I don't like to see it and the way some are kept is appalling. It's not the fact they eat them I find abhorrent, it's the way they treat them beforehand....but that applies to thousands of animals across Europe too. We are all gods creatures as they say....I don't really see why the cute, cuddly ones should get more favourable treatment than any others.
I agree, but I think that's a different debate tbh. How we rear and respect animals who are bred for human consumption is something that I'm actually passionate about. The disconnect between man and the meat he puts on his plate is far too great in modern society. I only buy locallly sourced organic meat wherever possible, as I've seen close up how we've treated animals for mass market consumption in the past. I can understand that different cultures see things differently in terms of where they source their protein from, but I don't have to either like it or accept it.
Yea i'm of chinese origin but was born and raised here and have never seen Dog or Cat on the menu (they don't sell that stuff in HK either which is where my parents are from). I'm just not ignorant of other races eating other animals because that's what they have always done in the past or because they believe other animals are of a higher being, a bit like what you are doing with dogs because we are "all dog lovers". If they were out poaching your dog and eating them i would say you have every right to go have a go. Seeing that they rear dogs like we rear pigs and cows and ducks and sheep etc i think you are a giant hypocrite to essentially look down on their practice. I guess whatever floats your boat though
That's exactly how i feel. Haha it Babe pig in the city was on the other day (i watched it with my little sister when we were young) and i actually really enjoyed it even though i thought it was stupid at the time
But chinas not in the west... As others have said, chickens, ducks are kept as pea yet still eat them. We are horses as 'pets' but the French and other European countries eat them... just because it's unnatural to us doesn't mean it's wrong. I love dogs and like I said it's the way they are kept which I don't like, but like billy said, that can be said for all animals and would be hypocritical to say eating dog is wrong but others are fine
