EVERY June, the small city of Yulin in southern China becomes the focus of unwanted world attention when it hosts the contentious Dog Meat Festival on the summer solstice.

This year’s festival is now over, but the battle by animal rights activists to close down the festival or at least make drastic changes in how it operates never ends.

A veterinarian from Shanghai, who identified himself only by the surname Tan, went to Jiangsu Province city of Gaoyou, after the festival on June 23 to await the arrival of more than 400 dogs saved from the dinner table.

According to Tan, the dogs were rescued from Yulin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region by an animal protection organization called Hushengyuan, which was founded by a Buddhist temple in Gaoyou.

So far, 1,050 dogs have been rescued from butchery by buying them from dog dealers who intended to sell them on to Guangzhou, Gaoyou and Nanning, capital of Guangxi.

“In Gaoyou, we had more than 10 volunteers from Shanghai to help, along with several others from Jiangsu, but we had only two vets, which was far, far from adequate,” said Tan.

Lacking vets, medicines and medical care equipment was a pressing problem for the volunteers. For three days, Tan and the volunteers worked long hours to save as many of the rescued dogs as possible.

Many were ill or suffered from wounds. In one day alone, Tan said he treated 26 dogs. Upon returning to Shanghai, he was exhausted and fell ill from fatigue.

Tan has worked as a veterinarian for 11 years and has seen countless animals die, but he said nothing in that experience prepared him for the horrors he dealt with in Gaoyou.

“The dogs were all maltreated, even tortured,” Tan said. “That is what angered me most. I don’t see why these dog dealers needed to torture them if all they want to do is to sell them for their meat,” he said.

“Most of the dogs we treated were terrified of human beings, but after several days of kind, gentle treatment and food, they began to wag their tails and trust us again.”

Tan said it is very likely that many of the dogs were stolen from their owners by unscrupulous meat brokers because they still had collars on them.

All the dogs rescued from Yulin were suffering from diseases and wounds. Many dogs had legs so mutilated that they had to have amputations in order to save their lives.

Tan said it was unbearably hard to look at the misery in the eyes of the dogs. Several of the volunteers assisting him broke down in tears.

Last year, only 400 of 1,381 dogs rescued by Hushengyuan eventually survived. Some of the survivors are lucky enough to find families willing to adopt them.

“The volunteers are very hard working, but we are still in desperate need of more medicine and treatment professionals,” said Tan. “The condition of some of the dogs is worsening by the day.”

Tan brought two dogs back to Shanghai for further treatment. They had contagious diseases and severe neck injuries. One of them, a golden retriever, seems to have adopted Tan as his new family.

The vet said he will be returning to Gaoyou as soon as he has time to check up on how treatment there is going.

“I’m still worried about the dogs there,” he said. “It’s hard to spend all my time there because I have a practice to run here in Shanghai.”

Tan said many of the volunteers met “obstacles” when trying to rescue the dogs in Yulin, but he declined to discuss details of the hostile conditions they braved.

“People just don’t understand why we do this,” he said. “I can only hope that some day all people can respect the lives of animals.”

Tan begrudgingly admitted that the Yulin city government has tried to improve the situation in recent years. Officials there now check for dog abuse and dog thefts. The government has also stepped in to protect volunteers from threatening gangs and assaults.

He said he worries that harsh reaction from the public and the media about the Dog Meat Festival will force Yulin government officials into a corner and they might cease to be cooperative.

This standoff between dog-meat eaters and animal activists has been going on for years. Neither side has made my progress in changing the attitudes of the opposing camp.

The festival has attracted international attention, with animal rights activists coming from many countries to lend their assistance. A team from the UK-based Humane Society International managed to negotiate the release of 34 dogs, puppies and kittens being held in a squalid slaughterhouse in Yulin.

Volunteers confirmed that some of the animals held there were wearing collars, suggesting they had been stolen from owners.

Peter Li, the organization’s China policy specialist, said there has been “some progress” in Yulin because of all the campaigning. But success hasn’t reached the point of the festival being cancelled.

“The Yulin government has given a written pledge to close down this cruel festival,” he said. “However, we need to see decisive and swift action to stop the cruelty, such as stopping all truckloads of dogs and cats from entering Yulin, confiscating stolen animals and shutting down slaughterhouses killing dogs and cats for human consumption.”

Many animal activists in China now seem resigned to the fact that eating dog meat is a cultural tradition in some parts of China. They are calling for the humane raising and slaughter of the animals.

“I don’t eat dog,” said Lena Huang, an animal welfare volunteer for 10 years. “But I now accept that some people believe it is their right to eat what they want and we can’t change their minds, at least not in a short term. Now my bottom line is that dog dealers don’t steal other people’s pets and don’t abuse the animals.”

Veterinarians wanted

The Hushengyuan Organization has launched a nationwide campaign to recruit veterinarians. It is looking for people with backgrounds in animal medicine. The vets will be paid on a monthly basis by the Dragon King Buddhist Temple of Nation Protection, which founded the organization.

The vets are being recruited for stints of one week a month. They will be housed in the temple, where food and accommodation are basic but adequate.

Short-term volunteers who work for a day or two a month are also welcomed.

Applications should be directed to:

Monk Zhi Hui at 135-1173-4639

Monk Chang She at 135-1173-3269