Animal activists across the world are calling for Beijing to cancel an annual dog festival scheduled to begin in Yulin, eastern China, in two weeks.  

A petition signed by more than 11 million animal right activists was submitted to the Chinese Embassy in London on Tuesday. The petition calls for Beijing to ban the festival. Humane Society International is one of many organizations behind the campaign to stop the festival.

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Peter J. Li, a China policy adviser to Humane Society International, said a petition will also be presented to high-ranking officials in Yulin city. Li said around 30 campaigners would gather outside the government office in Yulin to submit the petition. Copies of the petition will also be sent by registered mail to health and food safety regulators.

Apart from the standard petition, online petitions signed by millions of social media users have been already making rounds on Facebook and Twitter for years now. Images of dogs being beaten and mercilessly killed during the festibal have evoked shock and rage among millions of animal lovers across the world.

Every year, thousands of dogs are slaughtered in Yulin for the annual dog meat festival, set to begin in June. Supporters of the festival claim that it is part of China's rich cultural heritage. They argue that eating dog meat is just as normal as eating the meat of goat and turkey.

However, animal right activists disagree with these theories. They claim China's dog meat festival has no cultural roots. Activists allege that the festival was recently invented to drum up the local meat industry.

Activists also argue that dog meat is immensely dangerous for human health as it has the potential to spread diseases like Trichinellosis, Rabies, and Cholera. They also cite the fact that Yulin and entire Guangxi Zhuang province frequently rank topmost in the list of Chinese cities affected with human rabies. 

Tagschina dog meat festival, Yulin Annual dog meat Festival, china, Dog Festival China