Welsh singer Duffy has joined with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to call for an end to an annual dog meat event in Yulin, China, which could see around 10,000 dogs butchered and eaten.
The Grammy and multi Brit Award-winning singer/songwriter and IFAW are asking the British Ambassador in China to intervene and help ban the horrific annual mass consumption of dog meat in Yulin City.
The event in Guangxi Province takes place around the summer solstice on 21 June. In the weeks before, many thousands of dogs are reportedly transported huge distances in cramped cages, without food and water, to await their gruesome fate.
A big proportion of the thousands of dogs consumed are in fact reportedly stolen pets, and the theft of dogs by criminal gangs to supply the demand for dog meat is an ever-increasing problem in China.
Speaking about the plight and why she has chosen to speak out, Duffy said: “Each year, around the 21st June, up to 10,000 dogs are slaughtered in a city called Yulin in China, for human consumption. For the love of dogs, I ask China to please #StopYulin.
“I urge the Chinese government to listen to the growing movement of concerned Chinese citizens and animal welfare ambassadors, and the international community, to end this inhumane event and instead to focus on celebrating man’s best friends who have been beside us, loyally, for centuries.”
In previous years, local investigators and the media reported brutal handling and slaughter of dogs, including beatings and live-skinning, all apparently in public view and in front of other dogs awaiting their own slaughter.
The annual mass consumption of dog meat in Yulin is a modern tradition rather than a long-held cultural practice, dating back only a few years. Whilst some defend this event as a local ‘folk custom’, it is profit-driven.
In 2011 a dog meat festival in China, the Jinhua Hutou Dog Meat Festival, was banned completely following similar worldwide condemnation.
Duffy added: “Please take this moment to sign IFAW’s petition letter, share the #StopYulin message and help us to stop the killing and eating of dogs at Yulin.”
IFAW is urging people to add their names to a petition for the British Ambassador to China, Barbara Woodward, which can be found here
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1 comment
Cruelty!!!!