While the Yulin Dog Meat Festival has gained global notoriety for
inhumane and horrific acts of animal slaughter, a massive rescue effort mounted
just days before the event has freed at least 1,300 dogs and cats from certain
death.
A truck transporting animals earmarked for the meat trade was en
route to various Guangdong slaughterhouses in Southern China when it was
intercepted by more than 100 activists. Lacking the required health
certificates for the animals, the truck driver was persuaded to relinquish his
cargo, or else face consequences from Chinese animal transport regulations, Humane Society International reports.
Those who weren’t involved in working with local law enforcement
to free the animals were diligent in other ways, providing food, water, and
comfort to the dogs and cats who had traveled nearly 2,000 kilometers in
cramped containers.
“This was an audacious rescue, the single largest dog and cat
truck rescue that we’ve seen so far in China,” said Dr Peter Li, China policy
specialist for HSI. “We applaud the brave work of the men and women animal
lovers who saved the lives of these terrified animals who were headed towards a
brutal slaughter.”
The Gansu province, where the animals are thought to have come
from, is often rife with stories of stolen pets. And, HSI maintains, many of
the animals confiscated showed signs of being raised as companion animals,
unlike those bred specifically to be butchered.
“What has made this
rescue of far-reaching significance is that hundreds of young people from
Guangzhou, the once so-called ’world capital of dog and cat meat consumption,’
have participated in the rescue,” Li affirmed. “These young activists are the
hope of a new China that will be free of the dog meat trade cruelty. The
activists found the dogs and cats wailing out of pain and despair, stuffed into
tiny cages and hardly able to move. Many were sick and starving, with disease
spreading rapidly in the tight confines of their cages.”
At least 20 of the
animals died while being transported, before rescuers stopped the truck, Shanghaist reports.
No comments:
Post a Comment