You may be wondering what Yulin is, well we got you. Yulin is a city in South Eastern China which has a beautiful natural scenery but the locals hold a highly criticized festival which is the concern of animal rights activist groups.
Yulin is infamous (or famous probably depending on where you come from) for the Yulin Dog Meat Festival where an estimated 10,000 dogs are killed annually to mark the summer solstice, which is usually on 21st June. Some of these dogs that are slaughtered are stolen pets and farm dogs, which raises an issue about regulation of dog trade in China. The animals are caged in sordid conditions for transportation to the slaughterhouses. Apparently, according to the locals, eating dog meat can dispel ghosts and disease and is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat impotence.
There are online campaigns on social media that have been started so as to stop this festival: Duo Duo, an all volunteer animal welfare organization founded in 2013 has started campaigns that have received 213,608 supporters currently. Another campaign by Animal1st, an animal activists group has leveraged on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr to inform users of the practice and to gain supporters for the cause
Any social media user can click on the tab of the social media platform of choice which generates a custom post to be shared on June 20th this year. According to the campaign website by Animal1st, the social media impact reach is 393,029 people and it is growing.
We’ll update you on the developments of these campaigns as they approach June 21st and the resulting social media impact.
Photo credits: Huffington Post, China.org, Skyscraper City<
