As we expected, the infamous dog meat festival (6/21/2020) went on as usual but on a much smaller scale. Thanks to Covid-19, just like everywhere in the world, group gathering is highly discouraged and traveling is limited. So that helped. But we also found some encouraging information from our team that this year: the price of the dog meat is much higher. We were told because of more strict regulations on long-distance transportation in China due to the pandemic, fewer dogs were able to be shipped to Yulin. So a higher price means fewer sales, which means fewer dogs being killed. One dog meat vendor even reported her sales dropped 2/3 this year. However, it's still very sad and depressing to imagine so many dogs still being brutally slaughtered.
If you have been following Duo Duo Project, you know that we have worked with Yulin local animal lovers and put on many community events in Yulin since 2014. Andrea Gung, Duo Duo Project's executive director, has been to Yulin 16 times. She has talked to people from all walks of life in Yulin and she also witnessed some encouraging changes first-hand. She is hopeful. "We all so much want to find a magic wand to make this cruel dog and cat meat trade go away," says Andrea, "but in reality, to change a century-old practice takes strategies and patience. Changing hearts and minds as to how people think about dogs and cats as 'family not food' is the only way to end this cruel century-old habit."
We would like to share a heartwarming story we heard from our Yulin team. One of our team members told us that her neighbor's 6-year-old son, XiaoNiu (小牛）said to her yesterday: "Why my people would eat dogs? They are so lovely and they are our best friend," and started crying. He said, "I wish Yulin does not have this terrible dog meat festival."
So do we, so do we, XiaoNiu. He and the young people of China are our hope. #HopeNotHate
Join our team to learn about our strategies and help us move forward toward our goal to end the dog meat festival and trade forever.
Together, we win.
Be safe, The Duo Duo Project Team