A petition has gained a staggering 1.5 million signatures calling for an end to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival (GETTY)

Around 1.5 million people have signed a petition to put an end to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

The online call to stop the 10-year-old Chinese festival was started by by Care2 and Humane Society International.

The Yulin Dog Meat Festival will see between 10,000 and 15,000 animals beaten, tortured and killed for their meat as part of the controversial event in China.

The petition was sent to the Chinese Embassy, and it received the support of animal welfare groups and celebrities, who have demanded the festival be stopped.

View photos Animal activists around the world are supporting calls to ban the festival (GETTY) More

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International UK, said: “The dog meat trade in China is first and foremost about crime and cruelty.

"The Yulin festival is one small but distressing example of an unspeakably cruel trade run by dog thieves and sellers who routinely steal pets in broad daylight using poison darts and rope nooses, defy public health and safety laws, and cause horrendous suffering, all for a meat that most people in China don't consume."

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Paul Littlefair, RSPCA head of international, said that although the law in China is yet to be changed, there is growing opposition to the event.

He said: "The Yulin Dog Meat Festival is one of the high-profile reasons why the RSPCA is working closely with the Chinese authorities to help address animal cruelty.

View photos Puppies are seen in a cage at a dog meat market in Yulin, in China's southern Guangxi region (GETTY) More

Actress Dame Judi Dench also lent her support to the campaign.

Dame Dench said: "It fills me with sadness to think that the Yulin Dog Meat Festival is just around the corner again.

"I cannot imagine the suffering of those poor dogs, and I hope very much that one day soon this cruel trade will end."