400 Dogs and Cats Saved from Slaughter at the Yulin Dog Meat Eating Festival
By mailonline
Saved from the dinner table: Terrified canines crammed into cages and destined for restaurants are rescued in China ahead of barbaric annual 'dog meat festival'
More than 400 dogs and cats have been saved from being slaughtered, cooked and served at restaurants in a Chinese city.
The animals were squeezed into tiny rusty cages at the back of a heavy truck as they were being transported in the city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
The rescue operation in the evening of May 26 took place a month before China's annual dog meat festival, which is due to take place in the neighboring Guangxi Province on summer solstice.
Residents of Guangzhou spotted a heavy truck carrying caged dogs and cats on Huangsha Avenue in Liwan District around 11pm last Thursday, according to on.cc.
Eyewitnesses claimed that three men, aged in their 20s and 30s, were trying to surround the cages with paper boxes labeled 'seafood'.
The back of the truck was covered by black canvas, the report said.
There were said to be around 300 cats and 100 dogs on the vehicle.
Passersby suspected that the animals had been stolen and were being sent to restaurants, where they would be butchered.
They took pictures of the scene and upload them onto WeChat, a Chinese social media app.
The post were quickly shared leading hundreds of animal lovers to rush to the scene.
A Heng, a volunteer who took part in the rescue, told On.cc that they had surrounded the truck and demanded the driver free the animals.
Police were also called to the scene.
After around four hours of negotiation, the driver eventually unloaded the animals, which were being kept in a warehouse temporarily.
Animal protection organisation Humane Society International (HSI) confirmed the rescue to MailOnline and called it 'an amazing operation dealing a heavy blow to the city's dog and cat meat traders'.
The organization said China has the largest and most extensive dog meat business in the world.
In the last few weeks alone, HSI has seen hundreds of dogs saved throughout the country by the organization's local partners.
Wendy Higgins, the Director of International Media from HSI, told MailOnline: 'Typically, our activists find terrified and exhausted dogs on board these trucks, including many pure breeds still wearing their pet collars, clearly someone's stolen companion.'
She added: 'Dogs are snatched from the streets, crammed violently into tiny wire cages, packed on trucks and driven days or weeks across China without water or food, before reaching the slaughterhouse where they are beaten to death in front of each other.
'It's animal abuse on a massive scale and it has to stop.'
Peter J. Li, the China Policy Specialist at HSI, called for the Chinese government to step up in the protection of animals.
Mr Li told MailOnline: 'While we applaud the action by the Chinese activists, we believe this was really not the job of the activists or anyone in the society.
'Law enforcement is the job of the local authorities.'
He went on saying: 'China is no medieval country. Yet, local authorities and officials are stuck with a medieval management mindset.'
Dog meat consumption can be found in different parts of Asia, including Korea, Vietnam and China.
Guangzhou, where last week's rescue operation took place, is a six-hour drive to Yulin, the host city of China's sickening dog meat festival.
The controversial event, held every year to celebrate summer solstice, sees as many as 10,000 dogs, many of them stolen pets, slaughtered for the market deep in the largely rural and poor Guangxi Province.
Saved from the dinner table: Terrified canines crammed into cages and destined for restaurants are rescued in China ahead of barbaric annual 'dog meat festival'
More than 400 dogs and cats have been saved from being slaughtered, cooked and served at restaurants in a Chinese city.
The animals were squeezed into tiny rusty cages at the back of a heavy truck as they were being transported in the city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
The rescue operation in the evening of May 26 took place a month before China's annual dog meat festival, which is due to take place in the neighboring Guangxi Province on summer solstice.
Residents of Guangzhou spotted a heavy truck carrying caged dogs and cats on Huangsha Avenue in Liwan District around 11pm last Thursday, according to on.cc.
Eyewitnesses claimed that three men, aged in their 20s and 30s, were trying to surround the cages with paper boxes labeled 'seafood'.
The back of the truck was covered by black canvas, the report said.
There were said to be around 300 cats and 100 dogs on the vehicle.
Passersby suspected that the animals had been stolen and were being sent to restaurants, where they would be butchered.
They took pictures of the scene and upload them onto WeChat, a Chinese social media app.
The post were quickly shared leading hundreds of animal lovers to rush to the scene.
A Heng, a volunteer who took part in the rescue, told On.cc that they had surrounded the truck and demanded the driver free the animals.
Police were also called to the scene.
After around four hours of negotiation, the driver eventually unloaded the animals, which were being kept in a warehouse temporarily.
Animal protection organisation Humane Society International (HSI) confirmed the rescue to MailOnline and called it 'an amazing operation dealing a heavy blow to the city's dog and cat meat traders'.
The organization said China has the largest and most extensive dog meat business in the world.
In the last few weeks alone, HSI has seen hundreds of dogs saved throughout the country by the organization's local partners.
Wendy Higgins, the Director of International Media from HSI, told MailOnline: 'Typically, our activists find terrified and exhausted dogs on board these trucks, including many pure breeds still wearing their pet collars, clearly someone's stolen companion.'
She added: 'Dogs are snatched from the streets, crammed violently into tiny wire cages, packed on trucks and driven days or weeks across China without water or food, before reaching the slaughterhouse where they are beaten to death in front of each other.
'It's animal abuse on a massive scale and it has to stop.'
Peter J. Li, the China Policy Specialist at HSI, called for the Chinese government to step up in the protection of animals.
Mr Li told MailOnline: 'While we applaud the action by the Chinese activists, we believe this was really not the job of the activists or anyone in the society.
'Law enforcement is the job of the local authorities.'
He went on saying: 'China is no medieval country. Yet, local authorities and officials are stuck with a medieval management mindset.'
Dog meat consumption can be found in different parts of Asia, including Korea, Vietnam and China.
Guangzhou, where last week's rescue operation took place, is a six-hour drive to Yulin, the host city of China's sickening dog meat festival.
The controversial event, held every year to celebrate summer solstice, sees as many as 10,000 dogs, many of them stolen pets, slaughtered for the market deep in the largely rural and poor Guangxi Province.