Warning: This article may contain disturbing images.
If you are a dog owner or dog lover you have probably heard of the YuLin Dog Meat Festival by now. It has been receiving more and more media coverage as the big day approaches. If you haven’t, I apologise for ruining your day. The “festival”, a nightmare by any other name, takes place this Sunday, the 21st of June in Guangxi, China. Thousands of dogs will be killed inhumanely and consumed.
It is no surprise that the western world is taking a dim view of this event with public figures also making their views heard across social media and lending their support to existing petitions and campaigns against it. One such figure is Ricky Gervais who has very publicly and perhaps the most vehemently condemned the festival and invited people to sign a petition on change.org.
This is not the only petition out there. In fact there are at least two other petitions for the same cause that have already racked up hundreds of thousands of signatures. One of these was launched by Duo Duo in California and was accompanies by the following video.
There is no one detail about the practices involved in this festival or its preparation that can be singled out as the most barbaric or horrific or whatever you want to call it, but ultimately you walk away with an idea, a feeling, an argument that guides your stance on the subject. That idea for me is that people are profiting from the theft, torture and consumption of someone’s beloved companion…friend. Ugh. It’s gut-wrenching.
Here are links to a few petitions you can sign.
Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project – “Please Shut Down the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in GuangXi China”
Raise UR Paw – “Please Shut Down the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in GuangXi China”