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China's Yulin dog festival is infamous for harrowing tales of cruelty that see thousands of animals tortured and killed over its 10-day duration.

Harrowing footage from this year's festival shows the hounds - mostly stray dogs or stolen pet dogs - trapped in tiny cages where they can't stand or breathe properly.

They are then taken to a slaughterhouse in Yulin, Guangxi province of south-west China.

The distressed dogs were left with little food or water and have become malnourished while being kept in a dark warehouse.

The festival, known as Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, started on June 21 to celebrate the summer solstice.

(Image: The Humane Society)

Though it's not a traditional celebration, the event was heavily promoted by the Yulin government for driving tourism back in 2010 and dog traders deemed it a business opportunity to boost meat sales.

Keith Guo, a media officer for PETA Asia, told Mirror Online that dog traders hit the dogs in the head with a rod and blow-torch them to burn their coats before boiling them in hot water to remove any remaining fur.

He said: "Most of the time, the dogs are not killed instantly but are knocked unconscious when the vendors batter them in the head.

"The dogs wake up when they were being boiled or blow-torched alive.

"Some of them are slashed in the throat to have the blood drained from the body."

(Image: The Humane Society) (Image: The Humane Society)

Each year, an estimated 10 million dogs and four million cats are slaughtered for meat across China, according to the Humane Society International.

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."

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Clips posted on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, show dog vendors killing the four-legged friends in a cruel and inhumane way.

One video shows a dog left petrified and struggling to escape as it watches its another animal being killed by a dog trader.

Another one shows a greyhound being carried to a boiling cauldron by three men as a little boy watches in horror.

The dog howls in terror as it tries to free itself before two men hold it down and cover it with a lid until it dies.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Animal rights campaigner Michele Brown said: "This animal died the worst death imaginable.

"You can see raw fear in the dog's eyes as it's carried towards the boiling water.

"As they drop the dog into the water it screams for help, skin burning and blistering. It flails around so much, two strong men have to hold on to the lid.

"The young boy is an innocent child and he appears to be repulsed by what he saw."

Many of the slaughtered dogs are to be sold and served by locals as they replace pork or beef in the cuisine.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images) (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Keith, who is also an animal lover, said the local market at Yulin is selling the meat at about 60 to 80 yuan (£6.80 - £9.15) per kilo and dog stew is one of the common dishes seen during the festival.

He explained that dog meat smells and tastes 'gamier' compared to other types of meat, and chefs would garnish it with chilli peppers and ginger to cover the strong odour.

(Image: G Ronald Lopez/ZUMA Wire/REX)

In Yulin, a restaurant called Yulin No.1 Crispy Dog Meat has gained fame for its roasted dog meat over the years.

Last year, it set up over 30 tables inside and along the road outside the restaurant to serve dozens of customers, said local sources.

Asked what would the dog traders do to the unsold dogs as the festival approaches its end on June 30, Keith said: "Most likely they will kill all of them, because they are not going to keep the dogs for another year.

"They will make it into processed food such as dog jerky."