Saving animals from China’s dog and cat meat trade

Humane Society International


Dog meat trader's truck in China
Adam Parascandola/HSI

Worldwide, an estimated 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are slaughtered each year for human consumption. Of those numbers, it is estimated that 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are killed for human consumption each year in China. The dog and cat meat trades in China are, to a significant degree, facilitated by crime, as most of the animals are stolen pets and strays grabbed from backyards and streets. Detection and convictions are extremely rare. Transport to slaughterhouses and markets entails being crammed into wire cages and driven for hours or days to the animals’ destination. They’re often sick or injured, and many die en route from dehydration, shock, suffocation and heatstroke. Those who survive the journey are then beaten to death, sold and served.

Despite the scale of these horrors, dog and cat eating is not widespread in China; the majority of people in China never eat dog or cat meat. Of the 20% who say they do, many will have only eaten dog or cat meat once or twice in their lifetime. China’s dog meat eating mainly centers in three regions: South China, Central China, and Northeast China, although dogs are stolen and transported from all over the country.

Supporting Chinese animal groups

HSI’s official partner group in China is called Vshine, an extremely active, capable and well-respected animal protection organisation based in north China. HSI supports Vshine’s two shelters that care for dogs, cats and other animals – including those rescued from the meat trade – and through Vshine’s extensive network of partner groups and shelters across China, we are able to amplify anti-dog and cat meat efforts in multiple parts of China.

With millions of dogs and cats suffering each year in China, it is simply impossible to rescue our way out of this horrific business, which is why rescue is only one aspect of our strategy in China. We focus on promoting the life-saving work of Chinese animal protection groups and shelters across China that are campaigning, conducting public education, and providing hands-on rescue efforts. Our Chinese partner organisation avoids buying dogs and cats from meat industries, because no matter how well meaning, it risks the unintended consequence of bolstering the supply, which would be counterproductive.

Rescue all year round

For over a decade, HSI has supported the rescue of thousands of dogs and cats from China’s meat trades by working in partnership with Chinese activists and shelter partner Vshine, and supporting the creation of China Animal Protection Power. Chinese activists liaise with local police to pull over trucks illegally trafficking dogs and cats on their way to slaughter, and work with law enforcement when illegal dog slaughterhouses are discovered. These animals are largely illegally acquired and illegally transported across provincial borders without the required paperwork. When rescued animals are brought to Vshine’s veterinary hospital and rehabilitation shelter, HSI supporters’ donations are helping to provide them lifesaving care, treatment, food and shelter.. Through our support of Vshine, HSI also provides expert training and support for other shelters to ensure that they operate to the highest standards in China.

HSI believes it is imperative to promote the efforts of groups across China who are tackling the dog and cat meat trades. These groups are exposing the suffering endured by animals being trafficked in slaughterhouses and markets. Some rescues involve large numbers of animals, such as the 375 cats crammed in wire cages in an illegal slaughterhouse in Tianjin who were saved in 2018 by activists including the China Animal Protection Power team, or the 423 dogs saved by Vshine and other activists in April 2020 from a slaughterhouses in Henan. Other times, raids on illegal slaughterhouses result in small numbers of terrified animals found cowering in fear just in the nick of time. In April 2019 Vshine discovered a group of frightened dogs at a slaughterhouse in Peixian that was supplying restaurants outside Shanghai. In June of 2019, Chinese activists saved 62 dogs from a slaughterhouse in Yulin, many of whom received life-saving veterinary care at a shelter in north China supported by HSI. In 2021, a slaughter truck packed with 68 terrified dogs was stopped before it reached Yulin, and all the dogs rescued, and in 2022 police in the city of Shaanxi together with activists, intercepted a truck of 386 dogs headed for slaughter in Yulin.

Yulin festival

Across China, there are many dog markets and slaughterhouses, where the dogs are sold, killed and slaughtered for their meat, but the annual slaughter of dogs and cats during the summer solstice in Yulin in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has come to symbolize the immense cruelty of the trade that sadly takes place every day. Launched in 2010 by Yulin’s dog meat traders to boost flagging sales in the country, and originally promoted as a “festival,” the event has earned domestic and international outrage, even though 72% of Yulin´s population don’t regularly eat dog. HSI has played a key role in shining a global spotlight on the horrors, and thanks largely to the efforts of HSI and our partner groups, this event gradually has become more muted and small scale.

In the face of national and worldwide condemnation of the suffering, officials have cracked down on public displays of slaughter and limited advertisement of dog meat by restaurants.

But the killing still goes on in the backstreets and out-of-town slaughterhouses under the cover of darkness. In 2016, the Yulin government issued its first-ever written pledge to end the event and road checkpoints were set up to prevent dog trucks from entering the city. In 2017, just weeks ahead of this festival, Yulin authorities alerted dog traders that restaurants, street vendors and market traders would be prohibited from selling dog meat with the threat of heavy fines. The prohibition was subsequently relaxed in the face of intense pressure from dog traders, however it was still a highly significant milestone that demonstrated the authorities’ acknowledgement that action is needed. HSI hopes that national and international campaigners can build on this momentum.

Laws and law enforcement

With dog meat bans already in place in many countries and territories throughout Asia, including Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and multiple cities and regencies across Indonesia, achieving an end to the trade in mainland China is not an unrealistic goal, although we know that change can be frustratingly slow. Although China is perhaps the only country of the world’s top industrialized nations that does not have an anti-animal cruelty law, there have been some recent positive developments. In 2020, the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai introduced bans on dog and cat meat consumption, and China’s Ministry of Agriculture declared that dogs are considered companions and not livestock. Local Chinese animal groups advance legislative proposals for a dog and cat meat ban, with the hope that the National People’s Congress will sooner or later support the advancement of robust animal welfare legislation. Vshine, with financial and capacity building support from HSI, also works with local police, for example in Dalian, to promote best practices nationwide so that the standards of animal treatment across the country can be elevated.

Vshine is also active throughout many other parts of China, and HSI recognizes and amplifies its work by helping to raise awareness about Vshine’s rescue and campaign activities and those of other Chinese activists and organizations with whom they collaborate. Although HSI does not have a physical presence in China, our staff take pride in visiting China to promote animal protection. In July 2019, HSI attended and spoke at the China Animal Law Conference, an HSI-sponsored event, and in October 2019 an HSI delegation attended the HSI co-sponsored Asia for Animals Symposium. Our most recent in-person visit occurred just two months before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak ceased all travel to China, but our work has continued through our official Chinese partner group.

In January 2017, China introduced the Foreign NGO Law, which places strong legal restrictions on all foreign NGOs, such as HSI, requiring NGOs to register with the Chinese government in order to continue operating on the ground in China. Registration requires foreign NGOs to have an official local Chinese partner group (in our case, Vshine) which means our activities are focused in north China where they are based.

Vshine is also active throughout many other parts of China, and HSI recognizes and amplifies its work by helping to raise awareness about Vshine’s rescue and campaign activities and those of other Chinese activists and organizations with whom they collaborate. Although HSI does not have a physical presence in China, our staff take pride in visiting China to promote animal protection. In July 2019, HSI attended and spoke at the China Animal Law Conference, an HSI-sponsored event, and in October 2019 an HSI delegation attended the HSI co-sponsored Asia for Animals Symposium. Our most recent in-person visit occurred just two months before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak ceased all travel to China, but our work has continued through our official Chinese partner group.

HSI also works with a large network of local, regional and international organizations throughout other parts of Asia. We have HSI offices or staff-led projects in India, Viet Nam, Indonesia and South Korea. In addition, we are active as a member of several Asia-wide coalitions of organizations fighting the dog meat trade, wildlife trafficking and promoting human-wildlife coexistence. We are proud and grateful to be working together with many organizations and people on the ground in Asia to fight the cruel trade in cats and dogs for meat, and to have been working together so cooperatively and effectively for many years.

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