What Is The Yulin Dog Meat Festival?

The Yulin Dog Meat Festival was started in 2009 by the city of Yulin as a way to bring tourism into a dying city. The Festival always starts around June 20th every year, an easy date for me to remember, my birthday. Approximately 10,000 dogs will be brutally murdered in the most horrific ways imaginable. They believe the pain causes an endorphin to be released that causes healing powers. Little do they know many of these dogs are sick. There are more documented cases of human distemper after the festival than ever before. It doesn't seem to stop them. Some of these dogs are loved pets that have been stolen from their homes. please refer to the still from a video of a dog wearing a blue harness. He was saved and reuinted with his parents. When Yulin first started a "cart" of dogs would cost around $25. Now, as seen with the brown dog in the last photo, the dogs are weighed, after water is forced in their bellies to make them weigh more. We pay by the pound now. If I had to guess I would say an average dog costs between $30-40 US dollars. *please note the brown dog was being weighed to be saved and has a happy home now with two big humans and two small humans, dog beds, human beds and more treats a dog could handle!* I work with Paws of China who go to the meat markets daily to rescue dogs from slaughter, not just during Yulin. I have been involved since 2017. My dog is a Meat Trade Rescue and my goal is to save as many dogs as I can like him!