Yulin residents relish dog meat feast, back festival

New York: After the hype that was created due to the dog meat festival in China, where almost 10,000 dogs were feasted upon, the citizens of Yulin are now raising their voice in favour of this festival.

During the occasion, the street-side food stalls were set with various delicacies along with two most essential traditional dishes, lychees and heaping bowls of stewed dog, reported the New York Times.

After the big dispute it looks like it is the perceived hypocrisy of the critics that has annoyed the residents of this bustling city of seven million in the southern region of Guangxi.

Claiming that there was nothing bad in eating dog meat, resident Tang Chengfei said, "Haven't you seen how the Japanese eat live bullfrog sashimi?"

He further argued that why people picked up on Yulin, as it was normal for them since they grew around dog meat.

In China, where the issue of animal rights is given more space for debate relative to most grass-roots causes, opposition to the festival has become increasingly vocal as celebrities are also taking part in it.

The city has become the target of a fast-growing animal rights campaign as many international and domestic activists have called on local government officials and the Chinese public to put an end to eating dog meat in the country.

Not only this, the revolt has gone to a violent stage where protesters are smashing shops that make and serve dog meat and over the last few weeks, millions of messages condemning the culinary tradition have flooded Chinese social media.

But the locals claim that the moral hypocrisy over eating of animals is a bottomless grab bag as variety of animals is consumed all over the world.