A cook waits for customers behind a roasted dog outside a restaurant in Yulin, in China’s southern Guangxi region. (AFP)
Yulin, China – International groups and celebrities, backed by millions of foreign petitioners, have rallied against an annual dog meat festival in the Chinese city of Yulin: but the protests may have backfired, residents say, spurring more people to eat man’s best friend.
“My store’s dog-meat sales are much higher than before, last year was up more than 50 percent,” the owner of Yulin Number One Crackling Dog Meat Shop told AFP.
The city, deep in the poverty-stricken southern Chinese region of Guangxi, has drawn international fury for the beating and boiling alive of animals in the belief that the more frightened the dogs, the tastier the meat, activists say.
More than 10,000 animals are killed for the summer solstice festival, which has drawn the notice of celebrities such as British reality TV star Simon Cowell who denounced it as “barbaric.”
This year’s event is scheduled for June 21, but tensions are already growing.
Last month, activists from China’s nascent animal-rights movement stopped a Guangxi-bound van carrying 400 dogs and cats, some still wearing pet collars.
But campaigners’ efforts have had a perverse effect, locals say.
“Because of the protests, more people know that Yulin has a dog meat festival, so everyone comes and tries it,” said the dog meat seller, surnamed Lin.
“As we get closer to the dog meat festival, all Yulin’s hotels are completely full.”
Lin has opened a dog meat delivery service because “large numbers of people are placing orders online,” she added.
Even dog lovers in Yulin say that protest tactics have backfired.
“I used to think our enemy was the dog meat lovers,” said the operator of a new dog shelter, who asked not to be named. “Now I see our enemy is the activists from outside.”
He fiercely opposes the dog trade and has adopted a retriever rescued from a market, but believes that international protests are “sabotage” that drive people to ferociously defend their custom./AF