A Celebration of Murder: Yulin’s Dog Meat Festival

“The city of Yulin, seated in south China, established a dog meat eating festival in 2009 and has since then seen the deaths of over 40,000 dogs and 10,000 cats.”

Written by Cora Christina Hamer

The early morning chill lingers with the smell of must, metal, splattered blood, and carcasses as darkness covers the streets. The little slaughterhouse works in full swing, trying to finish before light reveals the butcher’s doings. One by one, dogs of different sizes, ages, and colors—some with collars, some without—face the fate of the dreaded club held by the butcher. The last dog, Benben (his blue collar still intact around his neck), shivers in the corner. His white, soft, puppy-like fur now smudged with dirt and grease.

The butcher, wiping fresh blood from his forehead, scans the room for any remaining pups to club. Benben lets out a slight whimper as the butcher stalks towards him with a sly smile, gripping his club. The puppy continues to try and back up, his paws slipping on the blood of his peers.

The screaming and barking that once filled the abattoir quickly turned into slight whimpers. Boiling water and blowtorches are prepared. In just a few hours, sunlight would uncover the closed doors of the slaughterhouse and instead, street vendors would appear with colorful arrangements of vegetables along with fresh dog meat selling for $3.50 a pound.

The city of Yulin, seated in south China, established a dog meat eating festival in 2009 and has since then seen the deaths of over 40,000 dogs and 10,000 cats. Close to 90 percent of these animals were stolen from local families by criminals. Although dog-meat traders created the festival to boost their business, local authorities—also believing the festival would attract tourists—never considered the worldwide condemnation it might generate.

In the first three years, thousands of dogs and cats endured numerous methods of torture such as a knife to the throat, a club to the head, vats of boiling water, being dragged behind trucks, or just plainly skinned alive. However, animal rights activists, with the help of social media, are lowering the popularity of the Yulin dog meat festival, and animal lovers in the U.S. and China hope to end this event for good in 2016.

Through all the darkness of this event, there are heartwarming stories of individuals who spent thousands of dollars saving dogs just before they would have met their deaths. One example is animal activist—Yang Xiaoyun, 65—who runs an animal shelter in Tianjin and reportedly spent over $1,100 to rescue 100 dogs in Yulin’s 2015 dog meat festival. “A life is a life,” she clearly states. However, Yang was forced to leave early after traders and passers-by swarmed her threatening to torture the dogs unless she bought them. As she left, they taunted, “We are also dog lovers! We are dog meat lovers!” Nonetheless, Yang saved as many dogs and cats as she could in the 2015 festival.

The theft and inhumane slaughtering of so many dogs has gone viral on social media sites, and celebrities like Simon Cowell and Ricky Gervais have spoken out against the festival. Using the hashtag #stopyulin2015, the two Britons have brought much awareness to the 2015 dog festival. There is now a hashtag, #stopyulin2016, that can also be followed, and a petition is available to sign on Twitter and Facebook asking to end the festival for good.

Simon Cowell took a stand on twitter encouraging his 12.1 million followers to sign a petition against the festival. He writes, “I can barely bring myself to talk about the horrific Yulin Dog and Cat Meat festival because it makes me so sick … but unless we all do something about this, it won’t stop. We have to act now to stop these barbaric & disgusting events FOREVER. Please, please sign [the petition] to help stop this disgraceful animal torture and cruelty.”

Ricky Gervais, equally disgusted by the festival, writes to his 8.8 million followers: “Whether you’re an atheist or believer, vegan or hunter, you must agree that torturing a dog then skinning it alive is wrong.” He adds, “It’s misleading to call Yulin a Dog Meat Festival. It should be called a Dog Torture Festival. Because that’s what it is.”

Although there are ways to be active in speaking out against the festival online, one can be an advocate for animal cruelty here in Southern Utah. There is an organization called Southern Utah Animal Alliance created by Laurie Nelson-Barker and Corinne Nyman, who are district leaders of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the largest and most effective animal protection organization. The HSUS provides hands-on care and services to more than 100,000 animals each year and is driving transformational change in the U.S. and around the world by combating large-scale cruelties such as puppy mills, animal fighting, factory farming, seal slaughter, horse cruelty, captive hunts, and the wildlife trade.

With Barker and Nyman both equally horrified by the dog meat festival, they do what they can to help animals in Utah as well as anywhere they can.

“We are currently working on many Utah related problems,” Barker said. “Currently, we are attempting to educate the public on the Pet Store/Puppy mill situation and help the St. George City Council pass an ordinance requiring pet stores to sell shelter animals. It’s a win-win for all. There is a pet store in St. George that is acquiring animals from a puppy mill and bringing them across state lines illegally. We have proof, but it’s not an easy sell. We are trying to solicit help from every resource available, which is one reason for the FB page.”

Barker welcomes all animal lovers to like their Facebook page, “Southern Utah Animal Alliance,” to see updates and information on where and when meetings are held.

Nyman and Barker have a list of ways locals here in St. George can help advocate for animals:

For more information on the Yulin dog meat festival, visit change.org/p/stop-the-yulin-dog-meat-eating-festival, and visit Southern Utah Animal Alliance to find out even more ways to help our furry friends here in southern Utah.

Because these animals cannot speak for themselves, someone has to.