Tomorrow, June 22, is going to be a feast of dog and cat meat for those who uphold the tradition of the Yulin Festival. As this post is written, an enormous number of animals that are normally kept as pets in households are being tortured, torched and skinned alive and killed in the most brutal ways that would make anyone question the mental state of the people, as well as the government, that make and let this so called "tradition" continue.
At this point, there is very little that we can do to stop them from killing the stolen pets, strays and those that were raised in dog farms that are sold in their markets for meat. It is a fact that we need to accept. Dogs and cats are dying in the most painful ways possible in the hands of their slaughterers.
Netizens are trying to express their opinions on this, but are they enough to prevent it from happening? Can the advocates of the Yulin festival take a break from mercilessly killing these animals and listen to what people are saying through the internet? Is there really a way to snap them out from their barbaric ways? And is there any hope for a country like China, notorious for its traditional medicine and cuisine that are instrumental for the annihilation of many types of animals, especially the endangered ones, to be able to step forward and end this tradition that's making their country infamous throughout the world?
Hypocrites are what these people call the animal rights advocates since for them, killing dogs is nothing different to killing cattle. To them dogs are livestock. Then if that is the case, it would be pretty understandable why dog meat is a part of their regular menu, they even consider it as highly nutritious which explains why it is hard for them to get rid of their taste for it.
However, no matter how many people try to be open-minded and try to respect the individualism of the Yulin festival as a part of their culture, one particular detail which is hard for them to get their head around is the fact that instead of just having these dogs undergo swift and dignified death, they were killed slowly and brutally and for what reason- they believe that by brutally killing them, it would make their meat taste better. Whoever started this kind of belief amongst the Chinese could have been easily diagnosed as a psychopath in any other country. He is just lucky that he was born in China which seems to embrace any type of belief so long as it has something to do with "luck", "fortune", "prosperity" and in this case "taste". These are what they value more than being human. This festival clearly strips them of their ability to empathize to such helpless creatures.
OK, Chinese people (not in general, but those who are upholding the Yulin festival), we get it. You are just trying to prove that no matter how cats and dogs became popular as pets and not as food, you are going to try to stick to your tradition just like any other country. We respect that. But can you please act more human? Can you please make their deaths easy and swift just like how more civilized countries shoot cattle in their heads out of mercy?
Death will never be easy, death will always bring pain. Being humans who naturally consume meat for food, let us show gratitude and respect to the animals that sustain us. Let us honor our cats and dogs that give us their love, loyalty and sometimes meat.
