WATCH: Animal activists furious at meat dog meat eating feast
The 10 day annual festival held in Yulin, Southern China, sees thousands of dogs and cats slaughtered and served as meals.
VARIOUS animal rights organisations have taken to the streets calling for an end to what they call the ‘cruel and gruesome’ killing of innocent dogs and cats. This as the month of June marks the begining of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. The 10 day annual festival held in Yulin, Southern China, sees thousands of dogs and cats slaughtered and served as meals.
Today, local organisations including Khetani Animal Rescue and Mazart Animal Rescue and Kennels, took to the streets calling for the Chinese government to banish the festival. The march was held outside the Pirates Life Saving Club in Durban. In a memorundum, the organisations said any nation, government that turns a blind eye to this atrosity is an embarrassment to the human race.
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The Yulin festival started in 2009. In China it’s believed that eating dog meat during the summer months brings luck and good health.
Reading out the memorandum, Khetani Animal Rescue’s Thomas Nicolson said: “We would like to request the Chinese to implement animal right laws to completely stop the torture and consumption of dogs and cats. Even though we respect that different countries have different cultures, torture can never be accaptable. Burning animals alive, skinning animals, chopping off the paws of animals and general ill treatment of certain beings with a full developed nervous system as on a human level, is an embarrasment to say the least.”
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The organisation’s concern is not only the torturing of animals, as Nicolson went on to say they are also worried that children witness the ‘gruesome’ killing of these animals.
“Besides the fact that slaughter takes place on the streets and in unhygienic conditions where young children witness this psychopathic behavior inflicted on the helpless animals by adults and in turn do the same when they become adults, there is nothing cultural about this behaviour. China needs to stop this barbaric behaviour immediately.”
The organisations concluded by saying they will handover the memorandum to the Chinese Ambassy in due course.
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