Yulin Dog Meat Festival

Just because it's tradition, does not make it acceptable.

The Yulin Dog Meat Festival, also known as the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, is an annual 10 day festival held in Yulin, a city in the Guangxi province of China, from June 21st to June 30th, during the summer solstice and can be traced back to 2009 where over 10,000 dogs are brutally killed to be eaten.  

Eating dog meat is a tradition in China where according to folklore, apparently eating dog meat during the summer can bring good health and luck, and is also believed to ward of diseases and enhance a men’s sexual performance.

During the festival, ten over thousands of dogs are being tortured in the cruellest way known to man and then slaughtered for their meat. The dogs are brought to Yulin from across China in tiny cages and cramped conditions and most of the dogs captured are strays, but people have reported seeing dogs with collars, meaning that they have been stolen.

Because dogs are commonly kept as pets in China, animal activists, celebrities and younger Chinese citizens have been increasingly vocal on their thoughts and opinions on this matter and opposing the dog eating festival and the practice in general. However The Yulin Municipal Government has repeatedly said it is not able to stop the festival as it claims it does not exist as an official event – which is technically correct.

Because eating dogs is not illegal in China, authorities say there is no action they can take to stop this festival. And because of this, around 10 to 20 million dogs are killed for human consumption every year and although the festival is new the custom can be traced back at least 400 years.

Chinese activists are trying new tactics to convince authorities to end the dog meat trade. In 2017, over 100 Chinese animal charities wrote an open letter asking dog lovers not to buy dogs as part of dog meat “rescues". We stand with our Chinese colleagues in this regard.

Before me move further, let me just get this point across, just because this is a tradition, does not make it acceptable. Facebook user Donzelle Mosley commented on a petition to stop this festival, saying: “Look that’s those peoples culture. What if they passed out petitions for America to stop killing cows and chickens??? Wouldn’t be so cruel would it??? Let those people live how they want to live. That’s what they eat as food...”.

Another comment made by Yulin resident Wang Yue told Reuters: “Yulin’s so-called lychee and dog meat festival is just a popular custom of ours. Popular customs themselves cannot be right or wrong.”
There are traditions in Africa where they force young girls to drink hundreds of calories a day because why? Men favour “bigger women” in their culture. There are many traditions around the world that still involves child marriage. And around the world, sacrificing animals is still a common tradition.

Are these animals’ lives much lesser than ours? Are we higher than them? Bigger than them? Are their lives not as worthy as ours? Just because they do not have a voice to speak up for their own, we have to be a voice for them. Such traditions are not acceptable. Torturing and killing others just for our beliefs and satisfaction is not acceptable.

Sign the petition now at https://www.change.org/p/stop-allowing-the-yulin-dog-meat-lychee-festival to stop the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.