Joyce Zhou and Christian Shepherd
Yahoo!Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:01 UTC
Home of China's dog meat festival defiant amid outcry
Residents of China's southern city of Yulin defended eating dog meat to celebrate the summer solstice on Thursday, as animal rights activists seek new ways to pressure organizers to cancel the annual festival.
The ten-day event, dubbed the lychee and dog meat festival by residents, has become a lightning rod for dog lovers, who every year confront those who buy, sell and eat canines.In recent years, animal rights activists have raided slaughterhouses and intercepted truckloads of dogs in efforts to limit the number of animals killed.
Activists say the dog meat trade is inhumane and unhygienic, pointing to videos of dogs caught with wire lassos, transported in tiny cages and slaughtered with metal rods.Festival-goers remain defiant.
"Yulin's so-called lychee and dog meat festival is just a popular custom of ours. Popular customs themselves cannot be right or wrong," Yulin resident Wang Yue told Reuters."Those scenes of bloody dog slaughter that you see online, I want to say that the killing of any animal will be bloody. I hope people can look at this objectively."
Dog meat is a traditional food in some areas of southern China, where it is believed to be good for the body in warm weather.
However, animal protection group Humane Society International said in a statement the festival was "manufactured" by the dog meat traders and that dog meat was not part of mainstream food culture in China.The event is not sanctioned by Yulin authorities, but police told Reuters their efforts to "maintain stability" had reduced the number of activists in the city this year.Opinions on Chinese social media were divided.
Calls from animal lovers to boycott or cancel the festival provoked a
defense of local tradition and accusations that activists were disturbing public order.
International animal rights groups say putting pressure on the dog meat trade has become harder after China stepped up scrutiny of foreign groups by requiring them to register with police.
Chinese activists are trying new tactics to convince authorities to end the dog meat trade.
Zhang Huahua, a university professor at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou province, complained to Yulin authorities that the festival infringed environmental protection regulations.
"The messy slaughter of numerous dogs transported to Yulin without inspection severely damages public order, popular custom and the environment," Zhang said in a letter seen by Reuters.Authorities told Zhang her letter would be processed in line with regulations.
Reuters
Comment: The poor doggies! We can see eating them if you're starving, but seems rather heartless to be feasting on man's best friend for nothing more than a questionable idea of tradition or helping one to deal with warm weather (also questionable).
It looks like South Korea is doing the right thing. From RT:
End of tradition? Killing dogs for meat ruled illegal by South Korean court
© Kim Hong-Ji / ReutersA dog is pictured in a cage at a dog meat farm in Wonju, South Korea.
A South Korean court has ruled that it is illegal to kill dogs for their meat - a landmark decision that animal rights activists say could pave the way for legislation outlawing the practice completely.
The ruling was made by Bucheon City court on Thursday, in a case brought by the animal rights group Care against a dog farm operator.
The man was convicted and fined 3 million won (US $2,700) for killing animals without proper reasons and violating building and hygiene regulations.
"It is very significant in that it is the first court decision that killing dogs for dog meat is illegal itself," said Kim Kyung-eun, a lawyer for Care. The precedent "paved the way for outlawing dog meat consumption entirely," she added.
However, the decision has angered dog farmers who want the government to explicitly legalise dog meat consumption and license dog slaughterhouses.
"This is outrageous. We can't accept the ruling that killing of dogs for dog meat consumption amounts to killing animals on a whim," Cho Hwan-ro, a representative from an association of dog farms, said on YTN television.
There are some 17,000 dog farms across the country, he said, adding that "dogs for eating and dogs as pets must be separated."
The court decision comes as a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party introduced a bill in parliament this week that would effectively ban the killing of dogs for meat.
One million dogs are believed to be eaten annually in South Korea. Up until now, authorities have cracked down on dog farms ahead of international events such as the Winter Olympics by invoking hygiene regulations or animal protection laws that ban cruel slaughter methods.
While dog meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine, attitudes are changing. A survey last year found that 70 percent of South Koreans do not eat dogs, but only about 40 percent believe the practice should be banned outright.
Meanwhile, in China, the infamous Yulin Dog Meat Festival opened on Thursday, despite pressure from animal rights activists to cancel the 10-day event.
Every year, the festival attracts activists from beyond China who protest by engaging in standoffs with meat trucks en route to the festival.
Comment: The poor doggies! We can see eating them if you're starving, but seems rather heartless to be feasting on man's best friend for nothing more than a questionable idea of tradition or helping one to deal with warm weather (also questionable).
It looks like South Korea is doing the right thing. From RT: