New Delhi: Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2020 has been kicked off under a new name “Yulin Summer Solstice Festival”. Although, the controversial festival is seeing a low turnout and people think this may be the last festival.

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Dog Meat Festival

Yulin Dog Meat Festival is celebrated annually during the summer solstice in Yulin, Guangxi, China. During the festival, dogs are paraded in wooden crates and metal cages and are taken to be slaughtered and cooked for consumption by festival participants. Traditionally, in certain parts of China, dog meat is believed to be good for health but in recent times there has been a steady decline in consumption as more people keep dogs as pets.

In the wake of COVID-19

After the novel Coronavirus outbreak, there was a ban in the consumption of wildlife, as according to research the virus found in bats crossed the species barrier and transmitted it to humans in the wildlife market in Wuhan, China. The ban came in late February; however, it didn’t include dogs. In April, Shenzhen, became the first city to ban the consumption of dog meat. And last month the Agriculture Ministry of China reclassified dogs as pets, not livestock but did not explicitly ban the consumption of dogs. The festival is seeing a low turn out this year as coronavirus is still at large and large gatherings in cramped spaces pose a health risk

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The outrage

Every year, the activist groups across China work to rescue these dogs from the inhumane festival. In a report by AFP, Jeffery Beri, the founder of a rescue organization No Dogs Left Behind said it is "inhumane and barbaric". The organization keeps around 200 canines in large wire enclosures on the outskirts of the Chinese capital and re-homes them. These activist groups, save hundreds of dogs every year. In some cases, the dogs are stolen pets and strays from slaughterhouses. Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan also put out a picture on Instagram wherein he raised his voice against the consumption of dog meat.