Yulin Authorities Deny a Dog Meat Ban for This Years Festival – But You Can Still Act!

Just under a month ago, we shared the exciting news that the Yulin government was going to prohibit restaurants, street vendors, and market traders from selling dog meat at the infamous dog meat festival. There was a lot of doubt being cast on the validity of this ban and if it would indeed restrict part of this brutal trade. Not to mention, regardless of this action, millions of dogs and cats in China, and elsewhere in Asia, would still await the ghastly fate of being tortured and killed for their meat.

Still, after millions of animal lovers fought tirelessly for years to end this barbaric festival, we thought we finally had some good news. Now, according to rescue group Animals Asia, on the day the ban was rumored to begin, the Beijing News reported that the Yulin city authorities have denied the existence of any dog meat ban.

Staff from the Yulin Publicity Department of the Municipal Committee claimed the event is not authorized by the government and they have no right to call it off. It’s also confirmed that city authorities did not publish any policy on a dog meat ban and have no idea where the rumors originated.

An Animals Asia source in Yulin has reported that the dog meat traders in the city’s Dongkou market were publicly selling dog meat on June 15th, the start of the Yulin dog meat festival.

“It’s possible that this year the Yulin government did indeed try to implement a soft ban and issued it verbally, but due to the leak their intentions to be discrete were made more difficult,” said Animals Asia’s Cat and Dog Welfare Director Irene Feng.

A 2015 investigation by rescue group Animals Asia found that most are actually stolen pets that were either kidnapped off the street or yanked from their caretakers’ yards.

As Animals Asia notes, “Many of these animals are poisoned during capture or have no proof of origin and vaccination histories as required by law – raising serious health concerns.”

Even with this discouraging news, great strides have been made to ban the dog meat trade and we will continue to fight. In April, we got word that Taiwan will become the first Asian country to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat. What’s more, the majority of citizens in China do not agree with the dog meat trade and have actively been working to end this barbaric practice. Additionally, Animals Asia helped secure the closure of over 100 dog meat restaurants in China.

Animals Asia is encouraging people to sign a letter in Support of the dedicated citizens in China tirelessly fighting to end the dog meat trade. The letter will go directly to the Chinese government and will show that thousands of people around the globe stand with the animals lovers in China in calling for a ban.

We must not stop now. Show you stand in solidarity with Chinese animal lovers, by signing the letter here. And be sure to send this post to every animal lover you know and ask them to do the same.

Take Action to End the Dog Meat Trade!

Not Just Yulin – It’s Time For All of China to Ban the Dog Meat Trade! Take Action Now

All image source: Animals Asia