Experience the Yulin Dog Meat Festival through Pictures

The Yulin Dog Meat Festival is just around the corner and happening in only a couple of months.

Many local and international activists are already advocating for this 10-day summer solstice festival to stop - permanently. In general, most people have been introduced to the dog meat trade in Asia by the social media outcry against this brutal dog meat festival held every year in Yulin, a city in southern China’s Guangxi province. The 10-day festival slaughters about 10,000 dogs every year, with most of them being stolen pets.

Last year, the government disassociated itself from this festival, yet officials did nothing to stop it. Even though there were numerous domestic and international activists working diligently to stop the festival, the 10-day summer solstice festival went forward as planned. There was a petition last year to ban the Yulin Festival that garnered 11 million signatures, but unfortunately London’s Chinese Embassy refused to accept it. According to reports, the pressure of this petition and the work of activists did help minimize the number of dogs slaughtered to fall below 10,000 and also to move the dog slaughter out of the public’s eye.

The origins of this Festival are vague. Many believe it was conjured up by dog meat traders and restaurants to boost business and make money. Dog meat eating may be a tradition in China, but this festival is not. It is relatively new, only dating back to 2009 or 2010. Last year, a poll was published by a state news agency Xinhua, "...showing that 64% of people aged 16-50 would support a permanent end to the festival. Another 51.7%, including Yulin residents, wanted the dog meat trade banned completely, with 69.5% claiming to have never eaten dog meat.” An estimated 10 million dogs are slaughtered each year for human consumption in China.

The UK's Telegraph presents the Festival via a picture gallery you can view here.