Good News...The sale of the meat of dog prohibited

In a willingness to change, China has just announce the prohibition of the sale and consumption of meat of dog on the sadly famous festival of Yulin.

To live and travel in Asia since 6 years, I can say that even if the consumption of meat of dog is today quite hard on the view with local populations or even prohibited, the canine meat is still sold and consumed in some regions.

But today, a new page turns and after years of mobilization against the festival of Yulin in China, the defenders of the animals have finally managed to be heard by the Chinese authorities.

A radical decision on the part of the Chinese authorities

in a press release published on 17 May, two associations who are fighting for the rights animals (the Humane Society International and the Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project) have announced that the Chinese authorities are on the point of prohibit the trade of meat of dog during the festival of Yulin.

This prohibition is an initiative of the new Secretary of the Party of Yulin, Mr MB Gong Ming. It is supposed to enter into force next June 15, one week before the beginning of the festival. The non-respect of this prohibition will result in severe penalties such as imprisonment as well as the payment of a fine of up to 100,000 yuan, the equivalent of a little more than EUR 13 000.

The origin of this macabre festival

dog yulinCréé festival in the years 90, the festival of Yulin had originally intended to make the promotion of this town located in the Guangxi Autonomous Region in China. This dastardly festival consists of nothing other than to mistreat and beat to blow of the stick of the dogs as well as cats in front of thousands of spectators came specially for appreciate the "spectacle". According to the Chinese authorities, each year, this festival would cause the death of more than 10 000 dogs and approximately 4 000 cats. These official figures could even be well below the reality, since some argue that the number of animals killed during this festival would be 10 times higher.

This festival has always been presented as a custom of the ethnic Zhuang, who formerly, inhabited the region of Guangxi. The latter had in effect for custom of consume meat at the summer solstice in order that it brings them luck and health for the rest of the year. But the reality is Any Other! This festival celebrated in the name of tradition is in fact a pretext found to enrich the sellers of the meat of dog.

This kind of festival shows well the cruelty which some humans are capable in the sole purpose of release of the profit. This massacre of dog is of a violence without appeal and unfortunately has become an integral part of the Chinese culture (with the same title that the bullfight in France or the Grindadrap to the Faroe Islands). Yet, as the explained the director of the Association Capital Animal Welfare, Mr Qin Xiaona, in an interview for the largest agency of the National Press Chinese, Xinhua: "This has nothing to see with the tradition."

Now hope that this new decision can have a real impact on this festival, that we should finally see disappear. Case To follow…