A 10-day dog meat festival has started this week in the Chinese city of Yulin. During the festival, the Chinese slaughter more than 10 thousand dogs, whose meat is eaten to celebrate the summer solstice. One of the activists of the Center for Animal Protection, Mark Ching, went to Yulin to free the dogs locked in cages.
In total, Mark Ching’s non-profit organization managed to free about 1,000 dogs from 6 different slaughterhouses
Opponents of the mass killing of animals have collected more than 11 million signatures on a petition demanding a ban on the festival.
Despite the protests of activists across China, the local authorities of Yulin continue to celebrate this festival annually at the beginning of the summer solstice. Many supporters of the use of dog meat say that the meat of dogs helps those suffering from heat in the summer months.
Coming to the slaughterhouses, Mark usually presents himself as a buyer of dog meat, after which he picks up the dogs and sends them to the USA by ship for rehabilitation and adoption into the family. In rare cases, he persuades the owners to give up the business in exchange for money.
On his social network page, Mark said that he was beaten and detained by the authorities for questioning during his trip to Yulin. Despite the fact that the festival is not officially recognized by the government and is held exclusively at the expense of local businessmen, the police are doing their best to disrupt the actions of activists and volunteers.