China’s dog-meat festival of 2020 will continue to be held on its assigned dates and venue in Yulin despite the activists campaigning against taking dogs as livestock.
The festival consists of 10-days in the southwestern area of Yulin where thousands of visitors gather to eat dishes made from dog meat and even to buy dogs from cramped cages.
This has incited several protests from animal rights activists to put an end to this festival where animals are brought in poor hygiene and health conditions. The activists also believe that animals are slaughtered in a very brutal and illegal way.
Also, as per WHO, this dog trade has potential risks and harms for the spread of rabies and cholera. The experts are also warning the public of the spread of coronavirus, a disease that originated from Wuhan, China.
A policymaker from Humane Society International, Peter Li, narrated that a landmark strategy is in the pipeline in the country against the trade of cats and dogs.
He also said we don’t expect the festival to shut down forever overnight but this was long overdue and things are heading towards a major shift in Yulin.
Moreover, the government is drafting new laws to ban the trade of wildlife as livestock to save the country from another pandemic. The agriculture ministry said they are classifying dogs as pets now.
Zhang Qianqian, an activist working on the same project in Yulin said we can hope for the ban on the festival in the future as she researched the subject questioning various meat sellers and consumers. From what her survey resulted in, it is going to take time but it surely is going to happen.
The Chinese markets will chop the bulk of dog meat in the coming days in the wake of the dog-meat festival while the activists will be able to rescue only a few of the dogs.