China’s Dog Meat Festival – Cruelty or Culture?

In some parts of China, dog meat is considered a delicacy at the dinner table and the practice of consuming dog meat has been around since 500BC, or possibly even earlier. However, as more and more Chinese are raising dogs as pets nowadays, they consider eating dog meat as cruel and barbaric behaviour.

In the past few years, animal rights activists have launched several campaigns, both online and offline, against the consumption of dog meat. Every year, they call for the abolition of the annual dog meat festival which involves eating dog meat hotpot with lychees and drinking strong liquor. The event takes place in Yulin city, Guangxi province on the summer solstice of the lunar calendar. This year, the date is June 21. On the other hand, local residents claim that the festival is part of the city’s cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Last year, animal rights activists estimated that more than 10,000 dogs were killed during the festival.