Stop the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China, Permanently!

[Golden Dragon Shining]

160'000 of 200'000 signature reached so far.

https://www.change.org/p/yulin-guangxi-dog-meat-festival-will-happen-again-on-june-21-2017-an-average-of-10-000-dogs-will-be-tortured-and-then-eaten-this-cruel-dirty-festival-started-in-2010-and-it-must-be-stopped?recruiter=528815513&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-custom_msg

[lifeforce]

Horrific. Signed.

[Gerard]

+1 . Thanks

[Golden Dragon Shining]

Thank you both!

[AussieTrees]

160'000 of 200'000 signature reached so far.

https://www.change.org/p/yulin-guangxi-dog-meat-festival-will-happen-again-on-june-21-2017-an-average-of-10-000-dogs-will-be-tortured-and-then-eaten-this-cruel-dirty-festival-started-in-2010-and-it-must-be-stopped?recruiter=528815513&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-custom_msg

Hi Golden Dragon Shining,

 

Sought of changes the meaning of dog food.

Seems there are too many dogs,just as in west,at least they not wasted.

Everyday dogs are picked up off the street,then after a time the dogs are exterminated and dumped in land fill.

A few are fostered out to new owners,most are not so lucky.

Yeah they are cute,and this is the dilemma.

No one says boo,when the rat catchers of the world sit down and make a meal from the rats caught.

Some countries eat their stray dogs,good for them,no attachments.

[thelerner]

I don't think signatures will do anything.  If Chicago got 300,000 signatures from China to stop Rib Fest, I don't think the participants would be moved.   It'd probably be considered a joke.   Maybe one level under wearing protest bracelets 6,000 miles away.

 

Still, it'd be good to stop it.  You'd probably have to work from inside out.  Take a slow route, trying to stop the one in 10 years, not this one or the next.  By inside out, I mean see what respected humanitarian organizations there are in China.  What they're doing..  Get there input.  Understand the problem through their cultural lens. 

 

Go back a few 100 years and 'peasant' outrages leading to massacres against cats were common in Europe, especially France.  They were considered symbols of aristocratic excess.   I wonder if there is some vestige of that in modern China?   Cats serve a useful purpose.  Dogs are one of man's closest animal allies, we've bred them for loyalty.. to us.  Killing and eating them breaks an ancient bond. 

 

Back on track.  It's not signatures from America (US disapproval means balls to them).    A PR campaign is what's needed.  Not to tell Chinese it's wrong, but rather to appeal to... .... ... something cultural. 

[AussieTrees]

An ancient bond now mostly Brocken.

Along with the horse the dog no longer so vital to survival have lost such honarable bonds with man.

[Aetherous]

One of the most loyal creatures...a better friend than even those of my own species. Of course it should be stopped.

[thelerner]

An ancient bond now mostly Brocken.

Along with the horse the dog no longer so vital to survival have lost such honarable bonds with man.

idk, in the US, we have millions of dog lovers.   While few of us have many encounters with horses these days, hopefully the bond is unbroken (by most)  on our side. 

 

 

To Aetherous

It should be stopped, but signatures from the U.S to China, or even expressing U.S disapproval of a Chinese cultural event, might prove not only ineffective, but possibly harden there position. 

 

I did some research on this a few years ago.   Some Westerners were buying up dogs to protect them, but that was drops in the bucket, especially if didn't know what happened to such 'saved' dogs later on.  Its usually foolish to get involved in another countries civil war, or to take a stand against anothers countries 'uncivilized' traditions.

 

But you can help native oppositional groups.  Smart ones who know which cultural buttons to press.  Being from another culture, our best efforts might have the opposite effect, ie 'I'm from the U.S and I'm here to judge you and tell you what to change', doesn't work well historically. 

[gendao]

I don't think signatures will do anything.  If Chicago got 300,000 signatures from China to stop Rib Fest, I don't think the participants would be moved.   It'd probably be considered a joke.   Maybe one level under wearing protest bracelets 6,000 miles away.

 

Still, it'd be good to stop it.  You'd probably have to work from inside out.  Take a slow route, trying to stop the one in 10 years, not this one or the next.  By inside out, I mean see what respected humanitarian organizations there are in China.  What they're doing..  Get there input.  Understand the problem through their cultural lens. 

 

Go back a few 100 years and 'peasant' outrages leading to massacres against cats were common in Europe, especially France.  They were considered symbols of aristocratic excess.   I wonder if there is some vestige of that in modern China?   Cats serve a useful purpose.  Dogs are one of man's closest animal allies, we've bred them for loyalty.. to us.  Killing and eating them breaks an ancient bond. 

 

Back on track.  It's not signatures from America (US disapproval means balls to them).    A PR campaign is what's needed.  Not to tell Chinese it's wrong, but rather to appeal to... .... ... something cultural. 

I think they need to refocus their message to, "stop cruelty to animals" - and then single out not ONLY the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

 

Because that's something that most everyone could probably agree on.  Otherwise, there is too much hypocrisy, double-standards, and cultural relativity to maintain a coherent argument.

 

For example, in the US, dogs & cats are bred and sold like toys - and 9,000 are killed everyday from being surplus supply.  OK, well that's about the same number (~10,000) as killed at the Yulin Festival (but which happens only ONCE A YEAR - not 365!). 

 

So numerically, the US pet industry is FAR WORSE.  But ethically, it's better because the animals are killed far more painlessly.  However, at least at Yulin their flesh is consumed, and not entirely wasted.

 

Also, Hindus don't eat beef.  Muslims don't eat pork.  Should they also start protesting the standard American diet which includes BOTH?

 

And should environmentalists protest beef consumption too, which is farrrrrrrrrrr more damaging to the planet than dogs or any other livestock due to the widescale deforestation it causes???

 

Not to mention, what about protesting to save all the native, non-pet animals that are all headed towards extinction - like armadillos, bobcats, owls, etc etc???  Who are mostly all dying out due to habitat destruction.

 

 

Again, with all this in mind, it still makes sense just to stop animal cruelty.  If you're going to kill an animal - try to make it quick and painless.  But there is no objective reasoning to just stop eating dogs vs other animals.

Edited April 12, 2017 by gendao

[dust]

Hi Golden Dragon Shining,

 

Sought of changes the meaning of dog food.

Seems there are too many dogs,just as in west,at least they not wasted.

Everyday dogs are picked up off the street,then after a time the dogs are exterminated and dumped in land fill.

A few are fostered out to new owners,most are not so lucky.

Yeah they are cute,and this is the dilemma.

No one says boo,when the rat catchers of the world sit down and make a meal from the rats caught.

Some countries eat their stray dogs,good for them,no attachments.

 

I made friends with a couple of wandering dogs in Beijing. A cat too. You're of course right that many are picked up and used for food... but it's also true that family dogs, with homes and humans who care for them, are sometimes stolen and treated in the same way as strays (eaten).

 

 

 

I think they need to refocus their message to, "stop cruelty to animals" - and then single out not ONLY the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

 

Because that's something that most everyone could probably agree on.  Otherwise, there is too much hypocrisy, double-standards, and cultural relativity to maintain a coherent argument.

 

For example, in the US, dogs & cats are bred and sold like toys - and 9,000 are killed everyday from being surplus supply.  OK, well that's about the same number (~10,000) as killed at the Yulin Festival (but which happens only ONCE A YEAR - not 365!). 

 

So numerically, the US pet industry is FAR WORSE.  But ethically, it's better because the animals are killed far more painlessly.  However, at least at Yulin their flesh is consumed, and not entirely wasted.

 

There is the so-called "livestock", millions of animals killed every year for food, the same in the East and West. And lab testing, which for all I know is worse in the West. But when it comes to 'pets', it can't be doubted that China is worse. As AT mentions, strays are rounded up and killed just as mercilessly in China; and as I said to AT, dogs (and cats) are taken from their homes and sold on meat skewers at grimy roadside barbecues. At dog meat restaurants, dogs are hung up and beaten to death in front of customers to show that the blood is still fresh in the meat.

 

Yulin is only one example, a weirdly famous one outside China. It happens all over.

 

So yeah, I agree that it is pointless to single out the Yulin festival.

 

 

Also, Hindus don't eat beef.  Muslims don't eat pork.  Should they also start protesting the standard American diet which includes BOTH?

 

They probably should.

 

 

And should environmentalists protest beef consumption too, which is farrrrrrrrrrr more damaging to the planet than dogs or any other livestock due to the widescale deforestation it causes???

 

Not to mention, what about protesting to save all the native, non-pet animals that are all headed towards extinction - like armadillos, bobcats, owls, etc etc???  Who are mostly all dying out due to habitat destruction.

 

A good environmentalist does indeed protest these things

Edited April 12, 2017 by dust

[Michael Sternbach]

That, in somebody's view, there is something equally bad or worse happening somewhere else in the world is no argument against people trying to stop an ongoing cruelty that they particularly care about. Sure enough, there are many things that should be stopped. We all have personal reasons to care about some of them more than others - and that is a good thing.

[thelerner]

That, in somebody's view, there is something equally bad or worse happening somewhere else in the world is no argument against people trying to stop an ongoing cruelty that they particularly care about. Sure enough, there are many things that should be stopped. We all have personal reasons to care about some of them more than others - and that is a good thing.

Good point.  I'm glad people are protesting it.  I just wanted to point out American signatures against a foreign cultural event don't carry much weight. 

 

Hopefully we all have our causes, something to fight for, trying to make the world a better place.  Mine is chickens.  Through Heifer.org I give a small flock of chickens out each month to some needy family.  Thus I'm actually having birds eaten- hopefully after a lifetime of supplying of nutritious eggs.  Worse I may be contributing to avian sexism since roosters are more likely to be eaten early. 

 

life is complicated, do what you can to help others. 

[dust]

I don't think signatures will do anything.  If Chicago got 300,000 signatures from China to stop Rib Fest, I don't think the participants would be moved.   It'd probably be considered a joke.   Maybe one level under wearing protest bracelets 6,000 miles away.

 

Yes. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners getting angry every year and signing a petition, protesting in London or Los Angeles... year upon year.. and these dog-eaters don't appear to give the smallest of shits. It is, as you say, like Chinese people protesting Americans who eat cows. The majority of Americans would (and do) say "Dis is Mmmurica! Fuck yoo!"

 

The thing to do is affect some real change from within China.. and there are people over there who protest the festival, but the whole dog-eating thing is so ingrained in the culture.. it's going to take a long time, if it ever changes.

[AussieTrees]

Dog rights?

 

Airial shooters from helicopters cull,horses,pigs,camels,goats,deer,in many parts of the world.

Seal pup clubbing,mutton bird season,dolphin cove harvest,kangaroo culling,the list goes on.

 

In many cases the carcasses are left where they fall to rot and provide food for scavengers.

We should stop it all.

 

When it comes to dogs there is an emotive influence,stir fry dog and veggies with black bean sauce,mmm

Edited April 12, 2017 by AussieTrees

[gendao]

dogs (and cats) are taken from their homes and sold on meat skewers at grimy roadside barbecues. At dog meat restaurants, dogs are hung up and beaten to death in front of customers to show that the blood is still fresh in the meat.

1) Keeping animals alive until they're ready to cook makes more sense because it saves on refrigeration costs and fresher meat is healthier.  And people get to see what it really takes to get their food - nothing is "sanitized" behind closed doors.

2) All livestock is either cut in the neck or beat to death.  In the West, bolt guns to the skull are used for cattle.  In China, I think it depends on the animal.  From what I vaguely recall, snakes would just get their heads chopped off.  Not sure about larger animals?

3) I've actually tried dog before in China.  It was not beat to death in front of us.  This was a family restaurant, and not a roadside attraction, though.

4) Beating a dog just for show is incredibly needless and cruel.

 

So all said, I think the answer is to combat animal cruelty.  And this should NOT just be limited to DOGS, or CHINA.  Because the biggest threat to animals across the world is habitat destruction from human civilization.

 

[dust]

1) Keeping animals alive until they're ready to cook makes more sense because it saves on refrigeration costs and fresher meat is healthier.  And people get to see what it really takes to get their food - nothing is "sanitized" behind closed doors.

2) All livestock is either cut in the neck or beat to death.  In the West, bolt guns to the skull are used for cattle.  In China, I think it depends on the animal.  From what I vaguely recall, snakes would just get their heads chopped off.  Not sure about larger animals?

3) I've actually tried dog before in China.  It was not beat to death in front of us.  This was a family restaurant, and not a roadside attraction, though.

4) Beating a dog just for show is incredibly needless and cruel.

 

1) If you're picking a fish from a bowl, sure. But in most places people don't pick their meat animal. And even where they do, there's no guarantee that animal isn't diseased and hasn't been kept in a cage so tight it shit on its own legs.

 

2) There are many horrific ways we kill them for food, for sure. Terrifyingly painful gas chambers, beatings, half-assed stunnings... Halal is unnecessarily horrific but it's better than those 3 options, I'd wager. I think a bolt to the head must be fairly painless..?

 

3) There's little chance it was treated the way anyone with half a gram of compassion would want a dog (or any animal) to be treated. Whether they're stolen from people's homes or picked up on the road or bred in captivity, they're kept in tiny cages and left to rot till they get to the humans' feed lot.

 

4) Certainly. But I'd say that the first needlessly cruel thing is the practice of eating them in the first place. I've heard it said by many people that pigs know when they're about to be killed, and sheep and cows too. Whether or not this is true, it is most definitely true of most dogs. Most aren't wolf-smart but they're smart enough.

Edited April 13, 2017 by dust

[Golden Dragon Shining]

to me it is just a display of how low human intelligence/empathy is on average, unable to perceive the emotion/intelligence/consciousness of another

Edited April 13, 2017 by Golden Dragon Shining

[Golden Dragon Shining]

This child has greater perception than 90%+ of the world population

[dust]

This child has greater perception than 90%+ of the world population

 

Indeed.. there are many YouTube videos of children asking "Why do we eat the animals?" "Why do they chop the animals up?", children in tears, or refusing to let a parent kill a chicken, or a fish, or even cut up an animal that's already dead..

 

I don't remember, but I have a feeling that I was not keen on eating meat at the beginning. Through a combination of deceit, bullying, and only gradual discovery of the reality, many children are 'brainwashed' into meat-eating culture.

[thelerner]

Yet, a well done modern zoo, leads to much greater awareness of wildlife.  We wouldn't care about many species across the globe if we hadn't seen them in a zoo.  They spark awareness and ecological concern.  They incorporate education, often deeper then casual visitors know. 

 

Plus modern zoo's have breeding exchange programs that keep vital genetic diversity in rare species.  In increasing cases they are keeping endangered species alive, even re-establishing them in the wild.  Very important in this day and age.

 

If wishes were fishes we'd probably catch them, skin and filet them.  They're not.  Instead imo, we should support good zoos.  The people who run them are probably doing more good then we know.  Bad zoos, with old fashioned small cages are another story. 

[Golden Dragon Shining]

2017/04/11 14:49:20

 

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed a law amendment that prohibits the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption and increases the penalty for cruelty to animals. Central News Agency.

 

Edited April 14, 2017 by Golden Dragon Shining

[thelerner]

Here is the story with a little more depth and context- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/taiwan-dog-cat-meat-animal-welfare-china-korea/

 

Good news, though Taiwan had banned slaughtering cats and dogs back in 1998.  This is putting more 'teeth' into it with bigger fines and harsher sentences. 

[AussieTrees]

Maybe we should all be a lot kinder to dogs,next year is the year of the dog,wonder if this change the plight of the yulin dog?

 

2018 is an Unlucky Year for Dogs

According to Chinese astrology, people in the year of their birth sign (本命年, běnmìngnián /bnn-ming-nyen/ ‘origin (of) life year’) will offend Tai Sui, the God of Age in Chinese mythology. They are believed to have bad luck in this year. Therefore, Dogs should be more careful about all aspects of their lives in a year of the Dog.

 

The next Dog year is 2018. It starts on Chinese New Year (February 16). Read more on How to Be Lucky in Your Ben Ming Nian.

 

http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/dog.htm

 

Fortune in 2017 — Not Good

 

Probably won't change,not sure if it will be a good year for dogs,this dog has a few concerns haha

[JCB]