Chinese town hosts dog-meat festival: How are dogs treated in Asia?
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Shontee Pant Staff writer
This week, a dog meat festival is being held in Yulin, China, a rural town in the Guangxi province. The , and is intended to celebrate the start of summer. But this year, public outcry has become so strong that the local government has denied association with the event.
reads the statement posted on the China's state-owned news website. News of the festival has led animal-rights activists and pet-lovers alike to protest against the slaughter.
Dogs have been part of Chinese culture for centuries. They were the and were used for hunting and as companions. Considered a gift from the divine, dogs were also sacrificed because it was believed their blood would provide protection. ; restrictions on pet ownership were .
Today, China is the third-largest pet market in the world. In 2012, the city of Beijing alone had over one million registered pets. The pet industry including veterinarians, specialty boutique shops for pets, and dog walkers and groomers, among others, has shown a rapid increase in the past decade.
Earlier this year, the to ban the slaughter of cats and dogs. However, the Chinese government has yet to formally respond to the proposition.
The dog meat trade in southeast Asia is not limited to China. Up to 5 million dogs are slaughtered for consumption per year in Vietnam, with the majority of the dogs coming from Thailand, where the slaughter of dogs for human consumption is illegal. The ,聽and smugglers round up the stray dogs for transport across the border to sell.
In from the Asian Canine Protection Alliance (ACPA) to consider a five-year ban on the commercial selling of dogs between the countries. ACPA is comprised of a number of organizations including , , and . Vietnam agreed to the ban, however .
Soi Dog Foundation is located in Buriram Province in Thailand and is home to over 1,500 dogs who have been rescued from Thailand鈥檚 underground dog meat trade. Dalley and his wife Gill were planning to retire on the island, but were moved to help the local dogs when they learned of the dog-meat trade.聽
鈥淲e had a dog back home, but I wasn鈥檛 particularly involved with animal rights,鈥� said Mr. Dalley in an interview with the Monitor in 2013. 鈥淏ut you see these dogs [in Thailand] suffer, and you want to do something to help them.鈥�
