For animal rights activist, dog meat fight extends beyond summer festival

Lisa Gao, a passionate animal-lover who lives in Guilin in Guangxi province, has watched the recent worldwide effort to end the dog meat festival in Yulin, about 500km to the south, with intense interest.

Every June, about 10,000 dogs are slaughtered in Yulin as part of the celebration marking the summer solstice. This year organisers have been forced to adopt a lower profile after an intense campaign by animal rights groups and lawyers, at home and abroad, who say the tradition promotes animal cruelty. Celebrities including actresses Betty Sun Li and Vicki Zhao Wei posted Weibo messages condemning the practice.

Gao welcomes the activism but feels it suggests, at least to the outside world, dog slaughtering is confined to the festival. For years, she has worked to spread the message it extends far beyond Yulin in June. "More than 1,000 cats and dogs are eaten here in Guilin every day at peak times in the winter and hundreds in the summer," Gao said. "But the outside world has heard nothing about it."

According to statistics compiled by the Humane Society International last year, there are currently about 43 million dogs in China that will end up as food. To local residents and people in the dog meat trade, the recent focus on Yulin is puzzling. Dogs are eaten across the south and in the east, as well as elsewhere in Asia, in South Korea and Vietnam, for example. They argue the trade is no different from poultry or pork. Others might point out that cruel practices can be found throughout the meat industry. Why are dogs more deserving of protection?

Part of the reason dogs have garnered more attention is that our relationship with them has changed. They have been embraced as household pets, and are often treated as a member of the family. We see them as experiencing the same emotions as ourselves, a personification carried further in Disney movies and on television shows that portray them as scamps and heroes.