By Nishtha Relan:
In China, the residents of Yulin follow a tradition of celebrating the Yulin Dog Festival annually, where they slaughter about 10,000 dogs and cats to consume as food. Dog meat is the most expensive meat in China, and is considered a delicacy. Recently, there have been rumours about terrible and cruel methods used by them to kill the animals. Apparently, it is believed that the more the dog suffers the better luck it brings to the consumer of its meat, which results in thousands of dogs being tortured cruelly and even being burned alive.
It has come to the attention of the entire world recently with the attempts of activists to help abolish this cruel practice, by getting people to sign an online petition and increase pressure on the Chinese government to ban this festival. The followers of this tradition, however, answer the moral questions by saying that they do not object to anyone eating beef or pork, and thus nobody has the right to tell them not to eat dog-meat. The BBC reported that the festival went ahead despite global outrage. “The Yulin government distanced itself from the festival and announced new restrictions, but eateries reached by telephone reported brisk business during the event ostensibly held to mark the summer solstice,” says a report in The Star. Watch this video to know more about the festival.
