**GRAPHIC** Exclusive– Animal Rights Group: Chinese Police Ban Photos of Slaughter at Yulin Dog Meat Festival

A representative of Plush Bear’s Shelter, an animal rights group operating within China, told Breitbart News this weekend that Chinese police have been stationed to prevent onlookers from photographing images of the Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival this year.

Yulin, a city in southern China, is believed to have inaugurated the festival in 2009 or 2010 and typically allows it to begin on the summer solstice, or June 21. The event features dog meat prepared in a variety of ways — boiled, grilled, or roasted and hung for display — for consumption. Organizers advertise the combination of dog meat and lychee (an Asian fruit) dishes as an appetizing way to address the typically uncomfortably high summer temperatures in the region.

The dog meat festival once attracted great disgust around the world, including from prominent celebrities, as animal rights groups estimate that hundreds, if not thousands, of dogs are slaughtered inhumanely for eating at the event. Animal rescuers who work to save dogs caged to be sold at the festival have reported that many appear to be wearing collars, suggesting that vendors are stealing pet dogs from families and then selling them to be eaten. The butchery typically happens on the street in the style of “wet markets,” which has alarmed epidemiologists as this practice can lead to the spread of zoonotic diseases.

Polls show that dog-eating is not common in most of China, and Chinese animal rights activists, facing the wrath of their totalitarian government, have led initiatives for years to save as many individual dogs from being slaughtered for the festival as possible.

The outrage against the festival from foreign and domestic animal rights advocates led the Chinese government to first spread rumors that the festival had been canceled in 2017 — which turned out not to be true — and then remove dogs from the list of legal livestock species in 2020. Bianca, a representative of Plush Bear’s Shelter, told Breitbart News in messages this weekend that the decision to reclassify dogs has changed “nothing” as police officers “make no attempts to enforce this law.”

“Every year we are told that the festival is fading out but we have been on the ground at the festival this week and conclude if anything pressure to end the festival is what’s really dwindling,” Bianca said, as local council refuse [to] admit it is an official event and so therefore it simply cannot be cancelled.”

“Police were present and seen standing in front of the dog meat restaurants and throughout the main indoor market,” the representative told Breitbart News. “However they were not there to enforce the law at all, their only objective was to stop any videos or photos being taken.”

“Anyone caught taking photos or videos by the police would have their device confiscated and all the evidence swiftly deleted. Apparently they have been paid off [by] local dog traders,” Bianca relayed.

Plush Bear’s Shelter confirmed that outdoor dog butchering continues, but officials appear to have asked vendors to perform the killings “in the back streets” rather than in full view. It also explained that the Chinese government allows it to exist — but “we are not allowed to protest or hand out leaflets to deter the public. Also filming at slaughter facilities and highlighting the suffering is frowned upon so have to be careful.”

The organization shared graphic images of dog carcasses being prepared for consumption and roasted dogs hung out for sale in Yulin this week. Activists with the group took photos surreptitiously as police attempted to prevent the images from leaving the country.

Warning – Graphic Images:

Plush Bear’s Shelter also shared photos of live dogs that its activists saved from the festival. Cat meat is also served at the Yulin festival, though less commonly.

“We rescued a total of 20 dogs and 3 cats. We saved most from being slaughtered in the streets and 4 from the dog farm,” Bianca, the Shelter representative, told Breitbart News. “60% of them are suffering from contagious diseases and are in the vet clinic. We are really hoping they can pull through and get the chance they deserve.”

Stopping the Yulin Dog Meat Festival was once a trendy cause in Hollywood, attracting the attention of celebrities such as Ricky Gervais, Paris Hilton, and Lisa Vanderpump, who once testified against its existence to Congress. Rumors that the Chinese government had banned it began spreading in 2017, however, resulting in silence from previously vocal advocates.

“It’s sad that there isn’t a larger social media presence about it like last year. And we truly believe this is due to the false statement about the ban and also the continued false information being spread to support the original lie,” the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation told Breitbart News that year.

Evidence from Yulin indicated that the event went on uninterrupted that year.

Bianca of Plush Bear’s Shelter told Breitbart News this week, however, that the festival is only the most high-profile event of its kind and that the dog meat trade is a year-long struggle for animal rights activists in China. The organization, an SPCA International partner, also advocates for animal adoption and rescue in addition to an end to the trade of dogs and cats for meat in the country.

“It’s really 365 days a year but only Yulin really gets any coverage. It’s estimated in excess of 25000 dogs are killed each day every day throughout China for dog meat,” Bianca said. “Where we are based in northern China they have big dog slaughterhouses operating daily killing thousands of dogs at single facilities.”

“Most people can not comprehend the severity of the issue, while most Chinese do not eat dog meat, as it’s such a enormous population, a small percentile equate to a lot of people, hence its estimated 10 million dogs per year being killed for meat in China alone,” she concluded.

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