Every year up to 20 million dogs are killed to be eaten (Picture: Humane Society International)

We consider them to be man’s best friend, but that’s not the same over the world.

China is preparing for its annual dog and cat meat festival and there are calls for it to be shut down.

Spain could soon be getting rid of its famous three-hour siestasAnimal rights activists say the practice blacken’s the country’s international reputation and fuels extreme cruelty to dog as well as unhygienic food handling.

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Activists from a coalition of groups said yesterday that they will continue press for the festival to be banned as well as legislation outlawing the slaughtering of dogs and cats and the consumption of their meat.




While an estimated 10-20 million dogs are killed for their meat each year in China, the June 20 event in the city of Yulin has come to symbolise the cruelty and lack of hygiene associated with the largely unregulated industry.

Animal rights groups want the practice to be stopped (Picture: Humane Society International)

Animal rights groups are concerned that the event promotes animal cruelty (Picture: Humane Society International)

Yu Hongmei, director of the VShine Animal Protection Association, said China needs to follow the example of the vast majority of developed nations that have banned eating dog and cat.

Man blasts Vue Cinemas after trip with his kids to see film costs him £70’China needs to progress with the times,’ Yu said. ‘Preventing cruelty to animals is the sign of a mature, civilized society.’

Restaurant owners say eating dog meat is traditional during the summer, while opponents say the festival that began in 2010 has no cultural value and was merely invented to drum up business.

Since 2014, the local government has sought to disassociate itself from the event, forbidding its employees from attending and limiting its size by shutting down some dog markets and slaughter houses.

Some believe the practice is a black mark on China’s reputation (Picture: Humane Society International)

Restaurant owners claim that eating dog meat is a summer tradition (Picture: AP)

Opponents say it’s got no cultural value and it is just to drum up business (Picture: AP)

Still, as many as 10,000 dogs, many of them stolen pets still wearing their collars, are slaughtered for the festival held deep inside the poor, largely rural Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Some are trucked in hundreds of miles stuffed six or seven to a crate or small metal cage without food or water.

Slaughtering takes place in front of the animals, usually with a club to induce the pain and fear that restaurant owners claim makes their adrenaline-rich meat tastier.

‘Psychologically and mentally, they have already died many times,’ said Peter J. Li, Humane Society International’s China policy specialist.

Around 10,000 dogs will be slaughtered for the festival (Picture: Humane Society International)

Before they’ve been slaughtered, the conditions the dogs are kept in are appalling (Picture: Humane Society International)

Dog meat also poses a risk to human health by spreading diseases such as trichinellosis, rabies and cholera, the Humane Society says.

Guangxi is already one of China’s five worst areas affected by human rabies, and Yulin ranks as one of the top 10 Chinese cities in terms of cases, the organization says.

Activists said rallies held around the country to oppose dog eating, as well as outrage on social media from the growing ranks of dog lovers, are already having an effect.

Eating dog meat can spread disease among humans (Picture: Humane Society International)

Thankfully, young people are turning their back on the practice (Picture: Humane Society International)

Dog meat restaurants have been forced to take the festival indoors and large-scale open air dog meat consumption is no longer seen.



However, a draft animal cruelty law remains mired in China’s legislature and prosecution of dog thieves and those violating animal transport laws remains lax, activists complain.

Yu Dezhi, secretary general of Animal Protection Power, said he was confident that shifting consumption habits will eventually help build the necessary groundswell against the Yulin festival and dog eating in general.

‘There is simply no market for dog meat among young people,’ Yu said.