Help Dogs and Cats Like Those in the Yulin Festival

At the Yulin festival in China this year, thousands of dogs and cats will be cruelly bludgeoned and killed and used for food, or, as in PETA’s own investigation: turned into pieces of clothing. Please join PETA in taking action that will have a lasting impact not only for Yulin’s dogs but also for all animals, and help us expand our educational efforts in China itself. The future of animal welfare in China depends on a change of attitude in the country.

GO VEG | EDUCATION IS KEY

ARE YOU UNKNOWINGLY SUPPORTING YULIN?

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL EMBASSY

Leave Cruelty Off Your Plate

The thought of killing, cooking, and eating dogs and cats is unimaginable to most of us because they’re our family members and our best friends. We can imagine their fear when they’re caged with other dogs and the agony that follows when they’re bludgeoned or even skinned alive before being turned into pieces of meat.

But there’s no need to go to the Yulin festival to find such cruelty. All over the world, intelligent and sensitive animals are tortured and killed for food. For example, pigs are smarter than dogs, yet it’s standard practice for mother pigs to be so intensely confined that they lose their minds and for piglets to have their teeth, testicles, and part of their tails cut off without painkillers. In slaughterhouses, it’s common for chickens—social and inquisitive animals by nature—to be conscious when they are plunged into scalding-hot water, much like the animals at the Yulin festival. In reality, the dogs and cats we cry for are no different from the pigs, cows, chickens, and other animals you have on your plate.

There’s no difference between the dogs and cats who suffer at the Yulin festival and the countless animals who are killed for people’s meals. The best way to stop dogs, cats, and all animals from being killed for food is to practice compassion for all beings. Make a lifesaving decision: Pledge to go vegan.

Education Is Key

Although many Chinese citizens are against the Yulin festival, PETA is working hard to urge the next generation to condemn the slaughter of animals for meat; whether a dog, a pig, a chicken or a fish, no animal wants to suffer and die for our plates.

Grassroots work is essential to the success of the animal rights movement, and PETA works closely with local activists and groups throughout China. Some efforts to further public education in the country include the creation of PETA’s Chinese website and our hugely popular Chinese social media accounts.

We have also created Chinese leaflets on topics ranging from vegetarianism and fur to spaying and neutering and zoos that we provide to local groups and activists free of charge. We actively visit schools and universities across China, hold information tables at events around the country, and partner with companies to educate people about the need to make compassionate choices.

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As more and more young people learn about animal cruelty and the ways to stop supporting it, there is great hope for the future of all animals’ lives. Our work in China is changing hearts and minds.

Are You Unknowingly Supporting Yulin?

One of the ways Yulin and the dog meat industry make money is by selling and using dogs’ skin. A deeply disturbing investigation, by PETA, revealed that dogs are bludgeoned and killed so that their skin can be turned into leather gloves, belts, jacket collar trim, cat toys, and other items. At the slaughterhouse, the investigator filmed workers as they grabbed one dog after another around the neck with metal pincers and bashed them over the head with a wooden pole. Some dogs fell unconscious, while others cried out and writhed in agony. Some still struggled to breathe after their throats were cut before their skins were ripped from their bodies. Dogs who were next in line for slaughter barked and wailed as a worker hit them to get them to walk more slowly. One employee told the investigator that this facility bludgeons and skins 100 to 200 dogs a day. When this video was shot, there were about 300 live dogs in the compound slated for slaughter. Dogs not only suffer during the Yulin festival, but all year round in the leather industry.

What You Can Do

Products made from dog leather are exported throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers. So if you buy leather, remember: There’s no easy way to tell whose skin you’re really in. The best way to stop the killing of dogs in China is to stop the demand for their skins internationally. Pledge to give leather the boot.

Contact Your Local Chinese Embassy

Cruelty like that at Yulin is the result of virtually non-existent animal welfare laws. Please most respectfully contact your local Chinese Embassy (China does not take kindly to foreign interference and none of us wishes for this to backfire) and urge officials to do everything in their power to ban this cruel festival and to strengthen laws to protect animals. Please be culturally sensitive.

Please help PETA’s work in China by making a donation today.