Festival in China Where Dinner is... Dogs

## Yulin Dog Meat Festival

**Festival in China Where Dinner is... Dogs** is a video on the Infographics Show detailing the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, a festival in China that serves dog meat, that is now illegal, but what did it take to get there, and is the festival still somehow running?

## Synopsis

There is a controversial festival in China where your favorite four-legged canine friend is served as the main course! It needs to be said that this is a smaller festival and most Chinese are opposed to it. This newer festival rounds up stray dogs and cooks them for consumption so warning, don't watch with your pets in the room. Why would anyone eat dog meat? Find out!

## Transcript

For the last ten years one city in southwestern China has been slaughtering thousands of dogs for what is known as the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. During this ten-day celebration that begins on the summer solstice dogs are killed by the thousands and eaten. Why does this festival occur? Is it a tradition with deep cultural roots? Are there health benefits to consuming dog meat? The answers to these questions are not what you might expect. Fair warning: this will not be an easy video to watch as the nature of this festival is truly terrible. The Yulin Dog Meat Festival, also known as the Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, takes place in Yulin; a city located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China.

Leading up to the festival thousands and thousands of dogs are rounded up from around the country to be transported to the city. The dogs are tightly packed into cages where they can barely move. They are then stacked up and transported via truck. The drive from parts of China back to Yulin can take days or even weeks. Oftentimes the dogs in the middle of the creates suffocate to death, and many others die from starvation or disease. It is truly an awful and inhumane way to treat dogs, or any animal for that matter. Every culture has its own unique practices. It is important to remember that something we may find uncomfortable, may be deeply ingrained in another culture or belief system.

So, is this true about the mass slaughter of dogs and consumption of their meat? Is this a practice that is deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture? The answer is no, absolutely not. You may be thinking that perhaps this is a cultural tradition in the city of Yulin that dates back hundreds of years. If this is part of the history of Yulin that may explain why the festival occurs. Again, this is not the case either. In fact, the Yulin Dog Meat Festival only recently started about a decade ago. So, why does this city in China bring thousands of dogs from around the country to a festival where they are killed and eaten if it is not an ancient cultural practice? Two words: greed and money.

The festival itself was launched in 2009 by the dog meat traders of Yulin as a way to boost their sales. That’s right, the reason why thousands of dogs are tortured and killed each year is so that the dog meat traders of the country can increase their profit. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, to be fair, in the western world some companies do the exact same thing with cows and other livestock.  But that is a story for another video. Prior to 2009 Yulin city had never had a dog meat festival before. And although dog meat consumption did happen, it was uncommon, and there certainly wasn’t an established cultural tradition of dog eating in the city. Even though this is the case, the traders still claim that dog meat eating is ingrained in the Yulin city culture.

This is a complete fabrication to try and justify the festival. If the premise behind the Yulin Dog Meat Festival was not already super messed up and corrupt, the way that the dogs are procured brings things to a whole new level. Many of the dogs that are taken for the festival are strays and are just trying to survive in a world that refuses to help them. Others are actually stolen pets that still have their collars on when they are brought to Yulin. The dogs that survive the trip to the city are covered in urine and feces; many also suffer from illness, dehydration, or heatstroke. While unloading the dogs from the trucks, the meat traders often throw the crates full of dogs down to the ground, causing even more pain and suffering to the animals. Originally, local officials endorsed and even encouraged the event as a way to attract tourists to the city. This did not happen, and instead, it became a PR nightmare for the government.

Animal rights organizations from within China and around the world condemned and protested the festival. However, there are still some people who flock to Yulin for the festival every year, which is one of the reasons why it has continued on. Cat meat, fresh lychee, fruits, and alcohol are also sold at the festival as well. Some people believe that consuming dog meat can bring good health and luck. And it is here that we need to make an important distinction. Eating dog meat is seen as taboo to the overwhelming majority of Chinese people. We will say this again because it is so important.

Most Chinese people do not see eating dog meat as okay and find it just as offensive as other parts of the world. There are relatively few people in the scheme of things that continue to follow this tradition or consume dog meat at all. It is also important to remember that some people may not have a choice. People in rural areas, or in poverty, may have no other source of protein besides dog meat. They may not even want to eat dog meat, but given the choice between dying of malnutrition or eating meat from a dog, what would you choose?

There is plenty of support from the Chinese people, and others around the world, to ban the consumption of dog meat. However, the Chinese government has been slow to enact change that would stop people from eating dog. But change is coming, even if it is slow. Since the Coronavirus outbreak the Chinese government has put a temporary ban on all trade and consumption of wild animals. In this case, that includes dogs. There are currently talks within the Chinese government of making this ban permanent, which would in effect end the rounding up and mass slaughter of dogs. Recently, the Agricultural Ministry of China has reclassified dogs as companion animals rather than livestock, as they were classified before.

With the new classification and laws banning consumption of wild animals, dog meat should become illegal to eat in China by law. Although many activists believe this should have been done long ago, it is a step in the right direction. The Chinese people themselves have voiced concerns over the Yulin Dog Meat Festival and want to see it ended. They cite both animal welfare and food safety as the main concerns around the consumption of dog meat. The Chinese people have even taken to social media with hashtags including "refuse to eat companion animals" and "cancel Yulin dog meat festival," which have been trending on China's social media platform, Weibo.

On top of all the internal pressure by the Chinese citizens, activist groups from around the world have been trying to ban the Yulin Dog Meat Festival for years. The activist group Bo Ai Animal Protection Center in China's Sichuan Province has been protesting to stop the festival for eight years. Each year they go to the Public Complaints and Proposals Administration of Guangxi Province to petition the stop of the festival, and for the government to put a ban on slaughtering pets. The Bo Ai Animal Protection Center, along with other international animal protection organizations such as No Dogs Left Behind, go to China and rescue dogs from being killed or sent to Yulin for the festival. The organizations and their partners rescue dogs from illegal dog meat traders who have been stopped by police. They then pair them with people looking to adopt a dog from other countries around the world.

These organizations cannot rescue all of the dogs that are gathered to be killed and consumed, but they have saved hundreds of canine lives over the years. The Humane Society has supported grassroots campaigns in China to stop the Yulin Dog Meat Festival and have also raised awareness around the world of the atrocities that are occurring. Since their work began in 2010 the festival has slowly reduced in size, and there are more and more protests each year. In 2016 the Yulin police even erected a roadblock and checkpoints to stop trucks loaded with dogs from reaching the city. This was done a little late, and many trucks had already passed through, but having the local government and police making a tangible statement against the festival was a step in the right direction.

In 2017 the Yulin government tried to impose a ban on the sale of all dog meat, but they succumbed to pressure from local dog traders who control a lot of money and power in the city. Instead of the ban, the government put restrictions on the number of dogs allowed to be sold in market stalls. They also made it illegal to make public displays of slaughtering the dogs. The government cracked down on the advertisementing of dog meat being sold in restaurants as well. However, none of these restrictions helped combat the killing of dogs in back alleys or slaughterhouses just on the outskirts of the city. The dog meat trade is apparently so lucrative that people will find ways around the law just to participate in the Yulin festival. If you thought everything you’ve heard so far is bad, wait until you get through this next part. The Guangxi province, where Yulin is located, is in the top five worst-affected areas for rabies in humans in China.

This should come as no surprise as the virus can often be found in stray dogs. The rabies virus is incredibly deadly to all animals including humans. If not treated before the onset of symptoms it has one of the highest mortality rates of any virus on Earth at over 99%. This brings us to one of the biggest global problems of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. The way that the dogs are treated and slaughtered is enough to make anyone condemn the festival. Due to the conditions in which the dogs are obtained, transported, and consumed there is an even more important reason that this festival needs to be stopped, and it has to do with another global pandemic. COVID-19 has killed millions of people.  We know that the virus jumped from another species to humans. Most scientists believe that this occurred in a live animal market, similar to the one that is held during the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

A video from the 2020 festival was taken showing vendors butchering the dogs without wearing facemasks, or any other form of protection. This is a recipe for disaster. It has been proven that the Coronavirus cannot be spread from dogs to humans, however, that may not be true of a new virus in the future that could start the next global pandemic. This is why it is so vital to stop live animal markets that do not follow strict safety protocols. It is not just for the safety of the people in the market, but around the world as well. Change is slow. Dogs hold a special place in many people’s hearts, which makes the thought of them being slaughtered and eaten unbearable to most of us. It is really important to remember that the vast majority of Chinese people do not consume dog meat.

It is also important to remember that the vast majority of Chinese people want to stop the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. The subset of people who are capturing and slaughtering thousands of dogs are not representative of the Chinese people as a whole, just like extremists in the country you live in are not representative of you. The Yulin Dog Meat Festival should most definitely be put to a stop; for the dog’s sake, as well as, for the safety of the entire world. Progress is being made, but since money and people’s greed are motivators for the festival, it will be an uphill battle until the Chinese government bans the consumption of dog meat completely.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG85MXu8-Gw