Press Kit: Chinese dog meat investigation finds dogs beaten to death, parallels with u.s. agriculture

Contact: Matt Johnson, matt@directactioneverywhere.com, (319) 464-5985

Chinese Dog Meat Investigation Finds Dogs Beaten to Death, Parallels with U.S. Agriculture

June 22, Yulin, China – Early this morning, the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) released the first-ever investigation into dog meat farms in Southern China, calling for support to local Chinese activists and drawing parallels with the farming of pigs, fish, chickens and other animals in the West. Using hidden cameras and late-night visits to the facilities where dogs are raised for food, activists led by a Chinese American investigator documented dogs having their throats slit, suffering from severe skin conditions, and living in squalor, conditions resembling those the activists have witnessed in U.S. farms as well. The activists were met with severe violence, and lead investigator Wayne Hsiung was bloodied and bruised by a mob guarding the dog farms. The investigation was featured Tuesday night on ABC’s Nightline.
“Each time I looked into the eyes of the dogs in Yulin,  I saw not only the dogs I know back home, but also the animals I have helped to rescue from farms in the U.S.,”  said lead investigator Wayne Hsiung. “If Chinese and American activists unite we can make clear that animal rights is an international issue and end violence against animals abroad and at home.”
10 to 20 million dogs are killed for food every year in China, including 10,000 at the notorious Yulin Dog Meat festival alone. The dogs endure days of transit in which they are often stacked on top of each other before being beaten to death or boiled alive. Gangs maraud around China to steal pet dogs for the trade, while other mobs protect the farms and slaughterhouses. DxE’s investigation is the first to successfully infiltrate the dog farms of southern China.
Since 2015, DxE has released three investigations and open rescues at U.S. farms, in which they removed a small number of animals from the farms and placed them in sanctuaries. In November 2015, DxE released an investigation featured in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal documenting conditions at a top-rated turkey supplier to the U.S. grocery store Whole Foods. As in China, the investigation found intense filth, disease, and mutilation. Turkeys are intelligent animals, and like dogs, all farmed animals have been bred to be particularly social.
DxE is calling on Americans concerned for the dogs in Yulin to support local Chinese animal rights activists like the VShine Animal Protection Group, to demonstrate at and write to local Chinese consulates, and to speak out and confront American politicians over the similar violence against farmed animals in the United States.
A coalition of animal rights groups is planning a candlelit vigil to gather 10,000 people around the world in solidarity with Chinese activists challenging the dog meat industry. Protests at Chinese consulates and in public areas to draw the parallel between the dog meat trade and Western animal agriculture are planned in dozens of cities. DxE seeks an end to the dog meat trade, as well as to the entire animal agriculture industry.
Access DxE’s full press kit, including videos and high resolution photos, here.

Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is a network of animal rights activists working to challenge speciesism throughout society.  We use creative protest to challenge the use of animals for food, clothing, experimentation, and entertainment.  Visit Direct Action Everywhere on Facebook and at http://directactioneverywhere.com/.  Follow us on Twitter @DxEverywhere.
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• "Our investigation highlights not only the horrors of the dog meat trade but the heroic actions Chinese activists are taking to fight it and the actions Western activists can take to fight violence against animals in their own countries,” said lead investigator and former Northwestern law professor Wayne Hsiung.

• “Dog Meat has never been a part of Chinese culture. If Yulin and Chinese law enforcement authorities were doing their jobs, the industry should be long gone," said Peter J. Li, China Policy Specialist for Humane Society International.

See a gallery of photos from the investigation below. Click here to download images directly. For the investigative video, click here. For more video for use in press reports, click here. 

Full investigative report has yet to be released.

Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is a grassroots network of animal rights activists. Starting in the San Francisco Bay Area in late 2013, DxE has since grown to have actions in over 154 cities in 30 different countries. Drawing from the power of the grassroots and groundbreaking social scientific research, DxE uses creative nonviolent protest to challenge speciesism throughout society.

In January and November 2015, DxE released investigations into two of Whole Foods market’s most notable suppliers, including a “Certified Humane” egg farm and a turkey facility that was one of only three farms out of Whole Foods’ 2100+ suppliers to receive a 5+ rating on its Global Animal Partnership welfare scheme. The investigations and the ensuing protests around the world received coverage in hundreds of news outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. 

In February 2016, DxE released an investigation into JS West, an egg supplier that was hailed as a model of the most notable animal welfare law in U.S. History, California’s Proposition 2, sparking coverage in numerous outlets on the enforcement and regulatory failure of the law.

DxE’s Open Rescue Network provides open-source educational tools and resources to democratize investigatory work. The Open Rescue Network intends to serve as infrastructure for independent, grassroots teams of animal rights investigators around the world.

Direct Action Everywhere has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the Washington Post among hundreds of other media outlets. See press highlights and a full press archive here. To contact our press team, email press@directactioneverywhere.com.