Can China lead on preventing animal cruelty, starting with the Yulin dog meat festival?

Reading Time:1 minute

A vendor travels to the Dashichang market on the day of the local dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi, in June 2015. At the market, some dogs are sold as pets while others are sold for their meat. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:30pm, 19 Jun 2018Updated: 12:31pm, 15 Oct 2020

Atrocities committed against animals in China (for example, the Yulin dog meat festival and the dog/cat meat/fur trades) need to stop. Nowhere in the world is it acceptable to deliberately torture animals. The cruel, inhumane practices of caging and muzzling, bludgeoning, blow torching, flaying and electrocuting are horrifying, to say the least.

As a vegetarian who values animals and human decency, I strongly urge President Xi Jinping, and Secretary Lu Xinshe and Chairman Chen Wu of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, to do everything in their power to work with the government and the Chinese people to enact and enforce animal welfare and protection legislation in China.

Acts of horrific animal cruelty, such as the Yulin festival, need to be made illegal so they will stop. Animal torture, abuse, exploitation and neglect have no place in civilised society.

China has the opportunity to lead Southeast Asia by example (“Celebrities urge Indonesia’s president to ban cruel trade in dog meat after blowtorch exposé”, May 21). Please make cruelty to animals unacceptable and illegal throughout Guangxi and all of China (“The China restaurants still serving dog meat”, April 30).

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x