- Thousands of dogs and cats dead as Yulin festival gets underway
- Locals divided over cruel trade with some buying pets to keep them alive
- Many animals wearing collars suggesting they have been stolen
- Slaughterers hit them over the head, cut their throats open, then boil them
Undercover footage of the notorious Yulin meat festival has emerged as tensions mount ahead of tomorrow's official launch.
Thousands of dogs are being shipped in and slaughtered by dog traders to mark China's summer solstice, which will then be eaten and washed down with lycee wine.
Harrowing pictures have emerged of the stolen family pets and other waifs and strays, stuffed inside cramped metal cages as they are lined up to be sold at the cruel carnival.
Sad: Dogs are kept in a cage at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi Autonomous Region
Dogs can be heard yelping as animal rights' campaigners surreptitiously film the dog markets, keeping the camera hidden from view for fear of angering locals.
And photographs, taken by members of Humane Society International (HSI) capturing brutal slaughterhouse scenes in the city, clearly show the trade in dog meat is already well underway.
Distraught campaigners and outraged locals have been going there to buy pups and save them from certain death.
Hundreds of animals have been rescued and purchased from dog meat traders, but thousands are expected to be killed and their meat consumed for the festival, which authorities have tried to deny is still happening, charities say.
'We've seen all manner of dog breeds coming in to the rescue shelters, some of them obviously someone's pet because they still have their collars on with their names,' said Adam Parascandola, from the HSI.
Trade: A customer holds a puppy for viewing at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin, which officially starts tomorrow
Crude: A butcher grills a butchered dog at a slaughter house at a dog meat market in Yulin
Cruel: Some of the dogs suffer injuries during transportation from being kept in tiny cages like these
Vendors wait for customers as dogs are kept in a cage at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin
Undercover footage: A campaigner records the scenes in Yulin as it prepares for the local meat festival
'There are also a lot of cats and tiny kittens rescued. It's nauseating to think that these poor guys were next to be beaten to death and eaten.
It's nauseating to think that these poor guys were next to be beaten to death and eaten.
Adam Parascandola, Humane Society International
'We know that these are only a small number compared to the thousands who have already suffered and died, but every life saved is precious.'
He said there was a 'real divide' in Yulin between the older generation dog meat traders and the younger generation Chinese animal traders who want it to stop.
He said: 'We've also seen just ordinary Chinese citizens who have no connection at all to animal rights but have seen the news and felt compelled to come down and help these animals.
'It's inspiring actually, and a real sign of hope for a future China without this horrific dog and cat meat trade.
Many of the animals die on the long truck journeys from across China with others suffering such horrendous injuries that they cannot stand in the filthy pens they are transferred to.
Saved: Adam Parascandola holds one of the lucky rescued dogs as thousands are expected to be slaughtered in the coming days
A survivor? A man holding his young boy chooses a puppy at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin. Some dogs are sold as pets but most as meat at the festibval
Slaughtered: Butchered dogs at a slaughter house in a dog meat market ahead of the Yulin festival
For sale: Butchered dogs are displayed at a vendor's stall at a dog meat market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin
Dinner: A boy looks at a bowl of dog meat carried by a waiter at a dog meat restaurant as his family has a gathering to eat dog meat and lychees
Off to market: A man loaded butchered dogs drives past a pet dog at a dog meat market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin
Shocking: A butcher holds a butchered dog at a slaughter house in a dog meat market with dozens of dead cats laid next to him
Preparations: Cooks cut dog meat at a dog meat restaurant ahead of local dog meat festival in Yulin
Controversial: A cook roasts crispy-skin dogs in a restaurant as some 10,000 dogs are expected to be killed
Those who do survive are clubbed over the head and have their throats cut open before they are thrown into boiling water. The butcher then plucks all the hair, removes all the organs and puts the dog on the grill.
Up to 10 million dogs are believed to be killed for their meat in China every year, with as many as 10,000 killed for the Yulin festival alone.
The festival itself has no cultural significance, it was invented by dog meat traders in 2010 as a way to boost their flagging business.
Although dog meat can be found in China today, it is not widely eaten by the average Chinese person and is not part of mainstream culinary practice.
Xing Hai, a Chinese activist working with HSI, said: 'I'm ashamed that around the world China has become famous for its animal cruelty, and Yulin in particular, and I want people to know that there are thousands of us here in China who are sickened by this cruelty too.
'This is not the China that we want, the old ways of treating animals have to end, Yulin is just the start.'
Inhumane: The cats whose meat will eventually be sold for around £2 per half a kilogram - are crammed so tightly into cages they can barely move
Cruel: Dogs are kept in a cage at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi Autonomous Region
BOoming trade: Vendors wait for customers as dogs are kept in a cage at Dashichang dog market ahead of a local dog meat festival in Yulin
Poor conditions: A dog with a weeping eye lies at the Dashichang dog market before Yulin's meat festival
Fierce trade: The dogs are bought and sold before the cruel festival in Yulin, China
For sale: Caged dogs wait to be sold in a market on Sunday before the official start of the festival tomorrow
Cooked: A butcher grills a butchered dog at a slaughter house at a dog meat market in Yulin
The organisation claims the local government could be violating China's national policy by allowing the cruel festival to continue.
It is legal to eat dogs in China and the country has no law protecting the welfare of pets but its Ministry of Agriculture has strict rules which require every cat and dog to have an 'inspection certificates' before they are transported.
Because most of these animals are stolen pets or strays grabbed off the street, dog meat traders do not have the right paperwork or produce 'fraudulent documents' instead, HSI claims.
Some slaughterhouse owners admitted they did not have 'quarantine certificates' and local health inspectors never visit to check out the animals - many of whom look visibly sick.
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