HSI Activists bottle fed the dogs and nursed them back to health after the dramatic rescue

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ANIMAL rights activists launched a three day stand-off with a lorry driver to rescue hundreds of dogs destined for the dinner table at China’s Yulin Dog Meat Festival. Campaigners halted a truck on the Tianjin highway outside Beijing, after spotting it crammed with sick and injured dogs in squalid conditions, heading for slaughter at the sick annual festival which will see about 10,000 dogs killed. Many were still wearing collars and pet tags, which activists say proves they are clearly stolen pets. After flagging down the truck, Humane Society International activists refused to leave the dogs until they were released.

HSI Activists waited three days at this truck to rescue 200 dogs from slaughter

The three day struggle saw campaigners provide life-saving food, water and medicine through the bars of the lorry while others negotiated with the truck driver to relinquish the animals. Several of the 200 rescued were found to be in a dreadful physical and emotional state – exhausted, dehydrated, some covered in wounds and sores. Wendy Higgins of Humane Society International said: “Many of these poor dogs were in a truly appalling state. “Our activists found them crammed together in the filthy truck, some barely clinging to life, and sadly 20 dogs were found already dead inside. “A large number were still wearing their pet collars which is a fairly common sight because so many dogs and cats are stolen pets snatched from the streets for the meat trade.

HSI Dogs were found shaken and distressed after being left alone in tiny cages

HSI Some dogs were bruised or badly beaten

Our activists found them crammed together in the filthy truck, some barely clinging to life, and sadly 20 dogs were found already dead inside. Wendy Higgins, HSI

“As the Yulin dog meat festival gets nearer, we could expect to see a surge in dog stealing. “All the dogs saved from this truck were clearly traumatised by what they’d been through, but the activists did an amazing job to save them, and the surviving animals will now receive veterinary care and eventually be placed for adoption.” Despite activists managing to rescue this truck full of pups, 10,000 will be killed by the end of the barbaric festival, which starts on June 21. For the first time last year, cats were even added to the menu.

Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China : Heartbreaking latest pictures Wed, June 20, 2018 An estimated 11,000 cats and dogs are due to be slaughtered for the annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 21 Puppies are seen in a cage at a dog meat market in Yulin, in China's southern Guangxi region

Restaurant owners claim eating dog meat is traditional during the summer, but animal rights activists say the festival has no cultural value and was merely invented to drum up business. Ms Higgins said: “Most people in China don’t in fact eat dogs, and there is massive Chinese opposition to this trade that sees people’s beloved pets stolen and brutalised. “Our petition is gathering millions of signatures from across the world calling on Xi Jingping to end Yulin and the cruel dog meat trade.” Yulin authorities previously denied the killing of dogs even took place but have now said they would tightly control pubic order, prosecute those stealing or poisoning dogs, adding traders would no longer be permitted to slaughter dogs in public.

HSI In total around 200 dogs were rescued from death for the Yulin Dog Meat Festival

But an estimated 10 to 20 million dogs are still being killed for human consumption every year in China. Now, with the support of the charity, a host of British celebrities have given their backing to the #StopYulin campaign. Made in Chelsea’s Lucy Watson, Emmerdale’s Gemma Atkinson and comedian Ricky Gervais are among the hordes of people who tweeted a ‘dog selfie’ for HSI. Miss Watson and her German Spitz Klein, Digby, added their selfie, adding: "No animal deserves to be abused and mutilated the way the dogs in the meat festival are and to think that could be my dog/best friend, Digby, is unbearable. “Something needs to be done, we cannot sit back and watch this cruelty continue.”