Every year since 1995, the south-western city of Yulin in China celebrates a strange local festival that sees thousands of dogs slaughtered and eaten by the locals. This year, an estimated one hundred thousand animals will be killed and consumed.
Dog meat is considered a delicacy in some parts of China, but there is increasing disquiet and opposition to such tradition, especially among well-to-do Chinese people who may own dogs themselves.
Even the local government in the city has distanced itself from it, going as far as saying that there is no “official” dog eating festival in Yulin, and that the practice had simply spread among traders and some local people over the years.
A few activists have travelled to the city in a last-ditch attempt to avoid the doggy bloodshed, and one particularly hardcore dog-lover has reportedly bought 100 dogs to spare them from the local ovens.