Chinese
animal activists petition White House against dog meat festival in Guangxi.
It is widely believed that dog meat can boost
men’s sexual performance - as it has been used in traditional Chinese medicine
to treat impotence
China’s dog lovers and animal enthusiasts,
fretting over the looming “Dog Meat
Festival” - an annual event held Yulin, Guangxi on June 21-2013 have pulled every string possible to avert
what they call “a bloody celebration.”
They have protested on Weibo, rapped against
it, and written to the mayor of Yulin demanding an end to the tradition. After
all these fruitless efforts , animal lovers decided to petition the White House
- an unorthodox method frowned upon by the country’s police and censors.
The White House petition was headlined: “Please
help us stop the Yulin Festival of eating dogs in Guangxi province. It is
bloody and disregards life” has collected 751 signatures as of Thursday since
its creation on May 12.
”They use knives to kill the dogs which are
alive,” it reads, “Then people would like to burn the dogs, which are
conscious, so they can eat them.”
“This petition isn’t meant for political
reasons,'' explained its creator, who identified herself as “Alalei” on a pet
forum. “I simply hope our government will stop turning a blind eye to this
horrible tradition.”
The Yulin locals traditionally celebrate the
day of Summer Solstice, when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky -
by eating dog meat and drinking lychee wine, says a programme produced by the
city’s TV station.
A programme produced by Yulin TV station about
the dog meat festival
Publicado el 8 may. 2014
Each
year, a Dog Meat Festival takes place in Yulin, Guang Xi (廣西) a
southern city in mainland China. At least 10,000 dogs are killed during
this festival which has been strongly condemned by animal activists for
its barbaric, unsafe, and inhumane practices. Dogs are packed tightly
into small cages with other dogs and are transported a long distance
before they are slaughtered, skinned, and cooked for the thousands of
festival diners.
Legend has it the eating of dog meat will
dispel evil ghosts and disease. It is also widely believed that dog meat can
boost men’s sexual performance - as it has been used in traditional Chinese
medicine to treat impotence.
The tradition is not unique to Yulin. Other
cities in Zhejiang, Guangxi, and Guangdong province, among them the booming
industrial town Dongguan, are also known to be avid consumers of dog meat.
Mo Yingran, a Guangzhou-based animal activist,
shared with the South China Morning Post details of his secret investigation in
Yulin last year.
Mo wanted to find out who was supplying the
meat to the festival. Despite the government’s claim that dogs were raised by
local farmers before being butchered, it is rumoured that some were stray dogs
and others abducted from various parts of China.
 |
| Chinese activists |
But when Mo showed up at a market pretending to
be a buyer, the seller became suspicious and refused to answer his questions.
Mo later managed to slip into the local
government’s headquarters, posing as a potential investor. He then presented
his case to several officials.
“They told me they had to respect local
culture, and would be willing to launch a public awareness campaign to remind
people of the risks of eating unhealthy meat,” said Mo. The Yulin
government denied organising the event,
but said they objected to scrapping it altogether.
On Tianya, a popular Chinese forum, a heated
debate broke out among bloggers.
“Why do we have to listen to what westerners
say?” wrote one commentator. “They eat turkey all the time and nobody says a
word about it.”
“It’s wrong to eat animals that are people's
companions,” argued another. “Even when we kill animals, we should make sure
they don’t suffer.”
 |
| Chinese activists |
Deng Yidan, a spokesman from Animals Asia
Foundation, a Hong Kong-based chartiy seeking to end cruelty to animals in
Asia, said their independent
investigation found most dogs sold to restaurants were stolen from households
or abducted from the street. These dogs are usually ill and, therefore, pose a
grave risk to consumers.
Deng said they had written a letter to Yulin's
government protesting the festival.
"Culture and tradition should not be used
as an excuse for brutality," she said. Requests for comment from Yulin's mayor’s
office have not been returned.
 |
| Defensores de derechos de los animales han mostrado su indignación por el festival que tuvo lugar en la ciudad sureña china de Yulin en el que los habitantes locales consumieron carne de perro para celebrar el día más largo del año 2014 |
Los perros fueron y son utilizados como alimentos para humanos en varias culturas como: Francia, Corea, México, Suiza, Tailandia, Vietnam, Filipinas, Artico, Siberia, Alaska, Canadá, Groenlandia, algunas tribus de Africa, etc...
A pesar de que ya no se comercializa la carne de perro de forma generalizada, en Francia, hasta hace muy poco (principios del siglo XX), no solo se consumía carne de perro, sino que incluso había carnicerías específicas para surtir este tipo de producto.
 |
| París 1910 |
Actualmente, la práctica de comer perros en Francia está casi desaparecida pero se dice que aún se consume perro en algunas zonas del país, así como en su colonia Tahití.
Fuente: Amy Li, rt, youtube.
Atención: This petition has been archived because it did not meet the signature requirements.
Petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/%E5%8F%96%E7%BC%94%E7%8E%89%E6%9E%97%E7%8B%97%E8%82%89%E8%8A%82-please-help-us-stop-yulin-festival-eating-dogs-guangxi-provinceit-bloody-and
PatoAlf. Frente de Liberación Animal MDP, Argentina.
Gracias por visitar esta página
Atención: This petition has been archived because it did not meet the signature requirements.
Petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/%E5%8F%96%E7%BC%94%E7%8E%89%E6%9E%97%E7%8B%97%E8%82%89%E8%8A%82-please-help-us-stop-yulin-festival-eating-dogs-guangxi-provinceit-bloody-and
PatoAlf. Frente de Liberación Animal MDP, Argentina.
Gracias por visitar esta página
