What is the Yulin Dog Meat Festival and Should It Be Banned?

Trigger Warning: The below content contains descriptions of animal abuse during the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. It may be upsetting to some readers.

It’s notorious around the world – a 10-day festival in the Guangxi province of China in late June that sees thousands of dogs slaughtered and eaten each year. Taking place between 21 to 30 June, the “Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival” sees the consumption of lychee liquor plus dog and cat meat.

The festival goes against a 2020 Chinese government ban on raising dogs for meat amid fears of Covid-19 transmission and has drawn world-wide condemnation.

And though the number of dogs consumed each year has decreased, the event is likely to continue in 2022.

So why does it happen, and should China ban it?

The Yulin Dog Meat Festival’s economic origins

Eating canine meat has no roots in Chinese tradition.

The festival is relatively new, and started in 2009 as an economic enterprise. Yulin traders used it as a way to boost their low dog meat sales, incorporating into the concept the selling of fresh lychees and lychee liquor. The reason for this? Chinese citizens believe that this combination has warming and restorative properties.

The festival isn’t a festival in the traditional sense of the word, but a 10-day period where more canine meat is consumed than usual.

It’s estimated that about 10 million dogs are eaten in China throughout the year. A big number, but one that pales in comparison to the 9.3 billion chickens and 671.28 million pigs consumed annually.

Attitudes and reasons for eating dog meat – or not

Less than 20% of Chinese people eat dog meat. A 2016 survey found that 64% of Chinese citizens want an end to the dog meat festival. More than half (51.7%) think the dog meat trade should be completely banned and the majority (69.5%) have never eaten dog meat.

Chinese celebrities and animal activists have all called for an end to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. They cite both the cruelty of the process as well as the criticism it draws from the West.

The province of Shenzen has even gone so far as to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat.

Covid-19 aside, canine meat can be highly dangerous. Zoonotic parasites like trichinellosis can spread from dogs to humans and cause death. Other risks include E.coli, salmonella, cholera and even rabies.

Some have criticized activists for advocating for dogs and cats, but not farm animals. Chickens, pigs and cows all experience pain the same way we do and pigs are proven to be as intelligent as dogs. This is one reason why some say humans should not eat any animals because they’ve been evolutionary bred to bond with us.

Yulin Dog Meat Festival cruelty

According to Peter Li, the Humane Society International’s China policy expert, “Cruelty and suffering exist at every part of [the dog] trade.”

Dogs are crammed into small cages, loaded into trucks and transported for days without food or water. They arrive in Yulin in a terrible state, often with skin diseases and injuries.

The dogs may be rounded up strays or they may be stolen dogs from loving families. Some still wear their collars when they arrive.

Offloading is particularly callous, with cages thrown out of trucks. Dogs sustain broken bones, lacerations from the wire cages, biting and other injuries.

How dogs are ‘prepared’ for the festival

Dogs were recently reclassified from “livestock” to “companion animals” in China. Because of this they may not be slaughtered in traditional slaughterhouses. Instead, they’re usually killed in back alleys and early in the morning so there’s less public scrutiny.

To end the dogs’ lives handlers beat them over the head with metal pipes and their throats are slit to bleed out. A dog may see dozens of its companions beaten to death before it endures the same fate.

Those at the Yulin Dog Meat Festival may also choose a live animal for slaughter.

Side note: While dog breeding and handling may not be anywhere near these conditions in Australia, some pups and their parents are bred in terrible conditions with the sole goal of the breeder making money. Read more in our article: Avoiding Puppy Mills and Finding a Reputable Breeder.

Global prevalence of dog and cat meat consumption

Other nations that eat dog or cat meat include South Korea, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam.

In Switzerland, thousands of people eat dog and cat meat – particularly over Christmas. A 2016 petition with over 16,000 signatures called on the Swiss government to end the consumption of domestic animals.

Australia doesn’t have a culture of eating cats or dogs. Slaughtering or consuming dogs and cats is explicitly outlawed in 16 states, and it’s prohibited across the entire country to sell cat and dog meat.

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