The spotlight has never shone more fiercely on China’s dog meat industry, with the Yulin dog meat festival attracting unprecedented worldwide focus. Yet hard facts details remain difficult to come by in an industry used to hiding in the shadows says Animals Asia founder and CEO Jill Robinson MBE.

The dog meat industry may be legal in China, but that doesn’t mean it follows the law. As our recent reports showed, illegality is rife at every stage of the industry supply chain while those on the inside do their best to avoid the spotlight.

And so it was again at this year’s Yulin dog meat festival.

Most reports suggest that there was once again a decrease in the number of dogs slaughtered. Yet nobody has been able to produce concrete numbers on the amount of dogs killed there for the dinner table in the last week. As every single dog sold and slaughtered is required by law to have quarantine and transport certificates, that’s a concern.

Our recently released reports showed overwhelming evidence that a huge percentage of dogs being eaten are not farmed. Instead they are stolen from rural homes by roving bands of violent dog thieves.

These gangs care not one jot for food safety laws, the animals’ welfare or the families whose companion animals they kidnap.

Our four year investigation even brought evidence that the entire concept of a meat dog – animals bred and raised on farms in order to be sold for consumption – is a fabrication, designed to hide the trail of illegality that makes the dog meat industry viable.

In the aftermath of this year’s Yulin festival, China’s national soul searching has been extensive. A debate is raging in the media and in homes as to whether the industry should be more strongly regulated or banned completely.

Those supporting a total ban – as we do at Animals Asia – were present once again at Yulin.

Our own dedicated Cat and Dog Welfare team are working year round at all levels to combat the dog meat industry but also to improve the lot of dogs and cats generally. By working with authorities on the treatment of strays, through our Dr Dog and Professor Paws programmes to teach kindness and respect for animals, and with grass roots support which contributes to the funding and training of around 100 animal welfare groups in China to rescue dogs and cats – Animals Asia is improving the lives of cats and dogs every single day.

In the short term, the Chinese government has responded to China’s growing food safety crisis by modifying the Food Safety Law in a change which will take effect this October.

The changes emphasise the strict enforcement of existing laws at every stage of the industry supply chain of meat for public consumption. We believe that China’s dog meat industry is fundamentally unable to adhere to such a change as experts claim the mass farming of dogs to be economically unviable.

The modified Food Safety Law also emphasises social governance. This means it encourages organisations and individuals to report illegal acts violating food safety law and to give suggestions to the related government department. 

This law change empowers the countless animal welfare supporters to be involved – and that makes it harder for this industry to hide in the shadows where it has operated for so long.

The world may be watching but the desire to change comes from within. It is very hard to see how this fundamentally unviable and morally reviled industry can survive the spotlight. But to find out, we must keep the lights on.

Those galvanised by Yulin can’t turn away once this festival ends – grassroots work every day is required to educate the population about the dark reality behind what arrives on their plates. Those who know can never go back to living in ignorance.

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