Well-concealed puppy farms have been found in the Chinese countryside ahead of the country’s controversial Yulin Dog Meat Festival which starts on June 21.
The annual festival, which began around 2010, sees dogs and cats – who are often stolen pets – brutally tortured and killed on the street before they are made into dishes for stalls and restaurants to serve.
Over the 10-day event, it is thought that up to 10,000 dogs and 5,000 cats were killed and eaten.
A number of these animals will come from the farms, in the Guangxi province en route to Yulin, which were found by on-the-ground workers with London-based charity NoToDogMeat, which has two shelters for rescued dogs in China.
The charity says these illegal farms are where traders supply the desire to eat dogs all year round.
Charity workers from NoToDogMeat have found puppy farms which they say are breeding animals for their meat
According to the charity, animals on these farms are kept in cramped cages, with little or no access to food and water
Qin Xi Zhao, who runs the NoToDogMeat shelter in Hebei, and is working to gather intelligence for the charity’s report to the United Nations on the issue, said: ‘In 2021 we uncovered so many atrocities that contradicted what the ‘party’ line was when they say there are no dog farms in China.
‘Of course, they would have to say that because otherwise, they are breaching their own agricultural code, which confirms that dogs and cats should not be considered livestock.
‘For too long, Beijing abetted by the West speaks of Yulin as some backward city in a forgotten province with some cultural festival of feasting on dogs once a year and drinking Lychee wine to celebrate the summer solstice, but this just isn’t the case .
‘Guangxi province is massacring the innocent.’
Charity workers have been in Yulin for a week, trawling the well-known Qiaonon, Chengnan and Dongkou Markets, observing small vans pull up with dead dogs and watching the male and female traders cut them up, smoking and laughing.
London lawyer Julia de Cadenet founded NoToDogMeat in 2009 after witnessing the slaughter for herself.
She said: ‘The dog meat trade is still thriving in Guangxi province and is unlikely to stop anytime soon.
‘Traders even complain their livelihood is being interfered with by animal rights groups, but selling dogs for as high as 1800 RMB a pop is just what they are doing with all this black market money they are getting.
Qin Xi Zhao (pictured, left, in the black t-shirt) has been working hard to rescue as many dogs as possible ahead of the festival
‘Mr Zhao, who has devoted his life to caring for dog and cat meat trade survivors, feels depressed at all he has seen, but he is relentlessly tracking down where the live dogs are and running intel on where the trucks will be coming in from next week.’
She added: ‘He knew it was not just from Henan or Xi’an or Hebei that dog dealers trade. On his hunch, he has once again managed to uncover a dog farm.’
The farm uncovered by Mr Zhao specializes in puppies who are barely three months old.
According to NoToDogMeat, its workers have been wearing their T-shirts as a ‘silent act of defiance against the brutality’ of the dog meat trade
If they survive, they are shipped to markets where they are publicly slaughtered.
NoToDogMeat, which is fundraising to support its rescue missions, says this is illegal, and contradicts a government statement that ‘there is no public slaughter at Yulin’.
In addition, the charity says it has already found evidence that live slaughter is being set up for the start of the festival.
The puppy trader demanded 300 RMB per tiny pup and said if Mr. Zhao bought a big bag, he would take him to the big dog farm.
The charity dispatch says that all the pups are riddled with worms and infections.
Images from the farms show the grim conditions (pictured: NoToDogMeat charity worker Qin Xi Zhao, who works to rescue dogs from the meat trade)
Julia said: ‘Despite our team being Chinese, the locals are suspicious and unfriendly, but our brave activists, tears mingling with the sweat from the heat, continue to take footage and wear their NoToDogMeat shirts in a silent act of defiance against this brutality.
‘The weather is sultry, and it feels like the sky could cave in, and fires will sweep through the shrub lands.
‘We left with our purchases knowing we can’t take them all and reach out to local groups to help provide sanctuary.
‘In a week, disaster tourists will land to take shock horror photos of the event, and large organizations will ‘claim’ rescue and make lip service to change.
‘But until the government implements its own ‘rules’ nothing will change.’