Despite the global pandemic, despite rumors that the origins of COVID-19 were at a wet market in China, despite the Chinese government’s determination that dogs are pets and not livestock and should not be killed for consumption, the Yulin’s Lychee and Dog Meat Festival is in full force this year. Organizers prepare for this 10-day festival by rounding up – by any means necessary – thousands of dogs and cats and killing them so they can be sold. Animals are stolen from families, pulled off the streets, and purchased from other countries in order to satisfy the demand during the festival.
Although it has been reported across multiple news agencies that organizers claim the animals are killed humanely, activists have refuted that, providing footage of dogs being boiled and skinned alive (among other unimaginable atrocities). According to multiple sources, the Chinese believe that a tortured animal produces more tender (and better-tasting) meat.
The following video is short, but there are some disturbing and graphic images, so please use caution if you decide to view.
Eating dog meat is not exclusive to the festival; in fact, the dog meat trade, which also includes cats, is an industry in several Asian countries. Although the existence of “dog meat farms” is contested, there is no doubt that the animals are stolen and often transported long distances. They are brutalized, crammed into cages, limbs sometimes broken, beaten, and must endure unimaginable suffering before a tortuous death.
https://www.animalsasia.org/us/our-work/cat-and-dog-welfare/facts-about-dog-meat-trade.html
What, some people ask, is the difference between killing a cow and killing a dog? Between the barbarity of the farming industry in the US and that of the dog meat trade in Asia? Aren’t we being hypocritical when we denounce another cultural’s practice that causes the same kind of immeasurable suffering that one of ours does?
I think so. But the people who aren’t able to recognize the suffering farm animals endure – or see it as just another product of Western culture – remind us that dogs and cats are domesticated and share their lives with us in ways that cows and pigs don’t. Meat-eating and whatever it takes to get the food on the table is as deeply ingrained as is dog meat consumption in Asia.
Those of us who understand in a deep way that suffering is a universal experience have the responsibility to do whatever we can to educate others and to look for solutions that will alleviate the pain of that suffering for individuals.
What can you do? Any action is a step forward, no matter how small. Write, talk to your friends about the impact of their behavior on animals, sign petitions, support films made to educate the public about animal welfare, teach your children to be kind and compassionate to animals. Anything you can do is worth your effort and will elevate the lives of animals all over the world.
Suffering For Us 