Hello all. Some of you probably already heard about the so-called Yulin Dog Meat and Lychee "Festival", which has been taking place every year around June 21st since 2010 in Yulin, China. During that event, up to 10.000 dogs and also a large number of cats are being cruelly tortured, e.g. by being skinned alive, before they are being slaughtered and eaten.
Around the globe, a lot of people have been and are protesting against it, but so far, to no avail.

I'm aware that there are a lot of other issues concerning the daily mistreatment of animals for example in the meat industries with much larger quantities of suffering individuals. Yulin however is something I can't even begin to comprehend, which has nothing to do with the kind of animal or the whole 'which to eat and which to pet' discussion. For one, it's because of the crass scale of the event, and secondly, it's because of the utter and unnecessary cruelty. One doesn't need to be a dog lover to be horrified, especially after seeing pictures. Ever since I've first read about it, it haunts me. I can vividly imagine the fear and pain and sheer horror those poor animals must be suffering on that day, and there are pictures of participants who look on with a big grin on their face and their cell phone cameras flashing.
I don't understand how anyone can do or allow others to do something like that to a helpless creature. Apart from that, it is so irrational and medieval to think that the adrenaline improves the meat, as apparently a lot of people do seem to believe. Of course, there's also alcohol involved (hence the Lychee in the name), but still. What astonishes me most is that it's not a bunch of yokels in some godforsaken part of the country who simply don't know better, but Yulin is quite large and even has a university.

Another issue is the acquisition of the poor dogs; reportedly, some are even being stolen from their owners. Who does such a thing, who permits it, who organizes it? Who can listen to and look at a dog or a cat in pain and horror and enjoy it?
Incidentally, the missing ethical awareness of those who organize the “Festival” has been sufficiently illustrated by the fact that some of the dogs and cats could be rescued in the past years because someone paid large sums of money for them. It gives me hope that there actually are people in China who try to stop the abomination (which doesn't have anything to do with tradition, as some people say, since the whole matter didn't start before 2010), but of course, there aren't enough, which makes it difficult to do something from within (and who knows if the local politicians aren't also involved, it might even be rather lucrative for them).

I hate the fact that one feels so helpless. There are online petitions one can sign, of course, but I've also written stacks of emails and letters to Chinese Embassies, newspapers, TV stations etc around the globe, without any responses (no surprise there).The German society for the prevention of cruelty to animals informs me that there have even been protests at the Olympic Games, and it is downright impudent that those and others have not been heeded yet. As is the fact that due to the increasing pressure from the outside restaurants in Yulin have merely taken dog meat off their menues for show but nothing else, according to the Canadian society for the prevention of cruelty to animals.

I still have hope that the whole thing can be stopped in the long run. If people keep protesting, we might succeed. Please do not google Yulin if you can't stomach the pictures, but every single bit of support counts, whether it's a letter of protest or signing petitions, especially if you're in China.

Thank you.
 
#stopyulinforever

Last edited by Kerkerian (December 13, 2016 4:52 pm)