A vendor threatens that he will kill the dogs if people do not pay a price at a free market ahead of the Yulin Dog Eating Festival. Photo / Getty Images
A vendor threatens that he will kill the dogs if people do not pay a price at a free market ahead of the Yulin Dog Eating Festival. Photo / Getty Images
Dog meat will be banned at an annual Chinese festival after activists campaigned to stop millions of animals being stolen and bludgeoned to death each year.
The government is set to prohibit restaurants, street vendors and market traders from selling dog meat at the Yulin festival, formally called the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, the Daily Mail reports.
It is believed the ban will come into effect on June 15, one week before the festival begins, and strictly enforced by fines of up to 100,000 yuan ($21,000) and risk of arrest.
Millions of cats will still be transported to the festival to be slaughtered in front of each other and sold for their meat, alongside other types of meat.
Animal campaigners Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project and Humane Society International (HSI) received reports of a ban from Chinese activists, which were confirmed by three traders at the market.
The news is warmly, if cautiously, welcomed by Duo Duo, HSI and their respective Chinese animal group partners on the ground, all of whom have campaigned for years for an end to the brutality of Yulin and China's year-round dog meat trade.
More than 10 million dogs and around four million cats are killed every year across China for their meat.
Contrary to popular belief, the Yulin festival is not a traditional event but one invented in 2010 by dog meat traders to boost flagging sales.
At its height an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 dogs were killed at Yulin, reduced to 2000 to 3000 in recent years.
An female activist protests to rescue dogs caged at a free market ahead of the Yulin Dog Eating Festival. Photo / Getty Images
Most of the dogs are stolen pets and strays grabbed from the streets still wearing their collars when they reach the slaughterhouse where they are typically beaten to death.
Most people in China don't eat dogs, and pet owners and dog thieves have had numerous violent clashes.
The dog meat trade also poses a threat to public health, with the World Health Organisation warning that the trade spreads rabies and increases the risk of cholera.
Campaigners recognise that the ban is temporary and does not yet signal an end to the Yulin event in advance of which dogs are still likely to be killed.
It is still a milestone victory in the ongoing campaign to end mass dog and cat slaughter at Yulin, and is evidence of growing political will from inside China to clamp down on the trade.
Andrea Gung, executive director of Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project, says: "Even if this is a temporary ban, we hope this will have a domino effect, leading to the collapse of the dog meat trade.
Dogs to be killed are caged at a free market ahead of the Yulin Dog Eating Festival in Yulin city. Photo / Getty Images
"I have visited Yulin many times in the last two years. This ban is consistent with my experience that Yulin and the rest of the country are changing for the better. I am very impressed that the younger generation in Yulin and in China is as compassionate as their counterparts in the rest of world.
"Duo Duo Project also wants to congratulate Mr Mo Gong Ming, Yulin's new Party Secretary, for his progressive and visionary leadership. I hope this will turn out to be the beginning of the end of the dog eating habit in China."
Peter Li, China Policy specialist at Humane Society International, says: ''The Yulin dog meat festival is not over just yet, but if this news is true as we hope, it is a really big nail in the coffin for a gruesome event that has come to symbolise China's crime-fuelled dog meat trade.
"Millions of dogs and cats are stolen each year, including pets, and driven thousands of miles across China to be bludgeoned to death in front of each other. As opposition to this trade has grown within China and across the world, much focus has been placed on the Yulin festival and so it is significant politically that the authorities are taking the outrage to curb this cruelty seriously.
"At last year's Yulin festival there were roadblocks set up to deter dog trucks coming in, and now this ban signals further progress.
"Regrettably, many dogs and cats will still be killed for the Yulin festival in advance of the ban, so their suffering is not over yet, but this is certainly a milestone victory and we commend the Yulin authorities for taking this action."
Dog meats were sold at the local restaurants and markets in Yulin city. Photo / Getty Images
Duo Duo and HSI are urging Yulin authorities to make the ban permanent, make public service announcements warning against transporting dogs for the dog meat trade that highlight the new penalties, enforce food safety laws and regulations and build a government facility to house dogs confiscated from the dog meat trade.
Last year, a petition with 11 million signatures was handed in to the Yulin government in Beijing on behalf of Humane Society International, Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project, RaiseUrPaw, Care2 and Avaaz.
The late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher and her dog, Gary, gathered with the campaigners outside the Chinese Embassy in London to send the petition on its way.
Speaking at the event, Fisher said: "There is so much animal suffering in the world, and much of it you feel helpless to end.
"But stopping the Yulin dog meat festival and ending all that suffering is easy. All the Chinese authorities need to do is declare it shut down, and the killing stops.
"These poor dogs need us to fight for them. Every single one of them is as precious as my dear Gary, every one of them is someone's best friend."
There is a tireless campaign in China to end the dog meat trade, with Chinese animal activists staging protests and dog rescues all year round.
