Horrifying footage has emerged showing dog thieves stealing pets from a home by attaching a rope around their necks and dragging them up a wall.

The footage, appeared on People's Daily Online, was taken from surveillance footage above a yard in a house in eastern China.

The 47-second video comes just two weeks before the annual Yulin dog meat festival where as many as 10,000 canines are butchered, cooked and eaten to celebrate the summer solstice.

Animal catchers: The thieves enter the yard by climbing over the wall and try to grab the animals

Sickening moment: They then chase the dogs attempting to grab them by their necks with a rope

The man can be seen climbing the wall still holding the rope which is around the dog's neck

Horrifying: The dog struggles and tries to escape as the man is dragging the dog over the wall

Footage shows the animals wandering around the yard of a house in China when suddenly the dogs start to bark at something outside.

Two men appear in the video, jumping over the wall which is thought to be around six feet.

They can be seen heading towards the animals who try to move away from the men.

The men are carrying rope attached to a long stick.

In a matter of seconds, the men manage to hook the dogs and get hold of them.

One man tries to open the gate but it's locked.

They then start jump over the gate first before dragging the animals after.

The dogs look in pain as they writhe and try to avoid being dragged over.

The whole process took about 30 seconds.

According to reports, the group operate in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.

The incident comes just two weeks ahead of the Yulin dog meat festival.

The annual festival, which takes place in south China's Guangxi Province, sees tens of thousands of animals beaten to death, cooked and sold on the market to celebrate summer solstice.

It's thought as many as 10,000 dogs - many of them believed to be stolen pets are skinned alive, butchered, cooked and eaten deep in the largely rural and poor Guangxi province.

Figures released by Humane Society International show some 30 million dogs are killed across Asia for their meat every year - some 10 to 20 million in China alone.

Protests have been staged by animal activists in a bid to stop the upcoming festival from happening, including one in Beijing today and one in London on June 7.

PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi told MailOnline: 'The violent criminals seen in the video breaking into a home and stealing two terrified dogs by dragging them over a wall with a rope around their necks must be found and brought to justice.

'We urge anyone who recognises these men or the van they were driving to contact authorities immediately before more beloved family companions meet a similar fate.

'Investigations have shown that many animals killed for China's dog-meat trade are stolen from their homes or snatched off the streets, and last year, a deeply disturbing PETA Asia eyewitness investigation revealed that dogs were bludgeoned and killed so that their skin could be turned into leather gloves, belts, jacket collar trim, cat toys and other items to be sold around the world. '

The poor animal struggles as the man drags him over a wall estimated to be six feet high