Yulin Dog Meat Festival: China Introduces Cat Meat To Its Controversial Annual Feast Of Pet Flesh

Organisers of the controversial Yulin Dog Meat Festival have not only ignored a petition of 200,000 people calling for an end to the annual feast of dog flesh, but the notoriously barbaric canine cooking festival has also decided to add cat meat to the menu.

Last June the Inquisitr reported that over 10,000 dogs would be abducted and eaten at the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

Animal rights campaigners and lawyers have repeatedly called for an end to the festival, which is the source of irreparable damage to China’s reputation in the eyes of the world.

Campaigners have slammed the Yulin Dog Meat Festival held in the southern province of Guanxi for not only the consumption of canines but for the terror and pain the poor animals are forced to endure before they finally die.

“Fear and deep distress in the dog before death is thought according to Chinese custom, to tenderize the meat through the release of adrenaline, and make for a better meal. The practice of beating dogs to death to release the blood in the meat is still a popular practice in some regions of China, as is killing, cooking and serving the dog up in front of diners.”

In recent years pet dogs have been abducted for slaughter at the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, and nearly all the dog flesh sold at the festival is alleged to come from the black market.

Disturbing images of pets arriving at the festival still with their collars on have added to the anger many feel towards the continued existence of the event.

In December, 2015, a Golden Retriever was stolen from the home of its owner and purchased by a restaurant in the northeastern city of Shuangyashan, where it was reportedly skinned alive.

Images of the dog lying in a pool of blood appeared on the China’s version of Twitter, Weibo, causing mass protests by residents who lived near the restaurant and the eventual closure of the establishment.

The Express reports that despite growing pressure to shut down the Yulin Dog Meat Festival from animal lovers in China and around the world, organisers have turned a deaf ear to the protests and have chosen to add cat meat to their macabre menu.

The festival’s decade’s old tradition sees dogs and cats either beaten to death and skinned and strung up like Peking ducks, or they have their throats slit in shadowy slaughterhouses.

Worse, campaigners believe many of the animals are effectively skinned alive because of a dire lack of official monitoring.

Peter Li, from Humane Society International (HSI) believes that the Yulin government has no real intention of ending what in reality is a festival of slaughter and carnage.

“Mass dog slaughter is still going on at Yulin despite the local authorities trying to give the impression it’s ended. The Yulin government has declared the ‘festival’ will not happen, but this is mere semantics and thousands of dogs will still die for their meat whether it’s called a festival or not.”

(Images Via Daily Express)