Business is booming at the Yulin No.1 Crispy Dog Meat restaurant: Cats and canines crammed into cages ready for slaughter days ahead of meat festival that's outraged the world

• WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT 
• Hundreds of cats and dogs brought to Yulin ahead of festival on Sunday
• Slaughterers hit them over the head, cut their throats open, then boil them
• Local authorities in China promised the cruel market had been abolished 
• But local animal charity worker told MailOnline: 'Business is getting better' 

By Jay Akbar and Tracy You For Mailonline

Published: 09:50 EST, 19 June 2015 | Updated: 12:32 EST, 19 June 2015

'Business is getting better' at the notorious Yulin meat festival where slaughterhouses are already killing and serving up hundreds of stolen pets ahead of the official launch on Sunday, MailOnline has learned.

Local authorities said it had been abolished following global outrage, but animal protection charities who are working tirelessly to expose the cruel market say the festival will go ahead as planned.

Shocking images taken only this morning show how a new batch of cats and dogs - inhumanely stuffed into wire cages - has been brought into the city.

And queues already stretch outside huge 300-seat eateries such as the Yulin No. 1 Crispy Dog Meat restaurant which sells the newly-slaughtered animals to hungry customers for around £2 for half a kilogram.

Others photographs show how the bloodied bodies of dead dogs are piled up on the streets outside dirty slaughterhouses before they are sold.

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Cruel: Images taken in Yulin only this morning show cats crammed so tightly into cages they can barely move, ahead of the annual meat festival on Sunday

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Trapped: The dogs who arrived in Yulin this morning (pictured) will be beaten over the head and have their throats cut open before they are thrown into vats of boiling water

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Inhumane: The cats (pictured today) - whose meat will eventually be sold for around £2 per half a kilogram - are crammed so tightly into cages they can barely move

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Slaughtered: Butchers in Yulin (pictured on June 17) cook the dogs 'however the customer wants' - whether its deep fried, barbecued or braised with soy sauce

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Business: Queues are already forming outside dog meat restaurants in Yulin (pictured on June 17), which have been instructed to remove the words 'dog meat' from their menus

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Hiding: The Yulin No.1 Crispy Dog Meat restaurant (pictured) has covered up the word 'dog' to avoid attention from the protesters who descend on the city near the Summer Solstice festival

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Grotesque: The bloodied carcasses of dogs were piled up in the streets outside slaughterhouses in Yulin last night

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Doomed: After being unloaded from trucks which have traveled to Yulin from all over China, the trapped animals (pictured today) are simply left out on the street

Some animals die on the long truck journeys from every corner of China and many suffer such horrendous injuries that they cannot stand in the filthy pens they are transferred to.

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,' according to the Secretary General of the Vshine Small Animal Protection Association who took the horrendous images just today. 

Xing Hai added: 'You tell the chef how you want it to be cooked, they will do it... There are many ways to cook dog meat just as one would cook pork in China. For example, braised dog meat in soy sauce, dog casseroles, deep-fried crispy dogs.

'There are three to four big dog meat restaurants in Yulin such as the one called Yulin No. 1 Crispy Dog Meat and each of these restaurants can seat 200 to 300 customers.'

'I came to Yulin last year to campaign against the festival, I feel this year the business is getting better... I just came out from the local food market and there were queues outside of dog meat restaurants.'  

 

Exclusive: HSI visit Yulin ahead of notorious dog meat festival

 

 

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Heartbreaking: Once they are boiled, the dogs (pictured today) are grilled and sold in restaurants which can seat as many as 300 restaurants

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Barbaric: The chefs in three or four massive restaurants can braise the dogs (pictured today) in soy sauce, put them in a casserole or deep fry them

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Demand: Restaurants such as the Yulin No. 1 Crispy Dog Meat restaurant can seat a staggering 200 to 300 customers who want to eat these animals (pictured today)

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Popular: Despite the local authorities promising the festival had been cancelled, queues have already begun forming outside of dog meat restaurants ahead of its launch in Yulin (pictured today) on Sunday

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Deadly: Some of the animals who are transported by the truckload to Yulin (pictured today) die along the way 

HSI has discovered the slaughterhouse workers have been told to only kill animals under the cover of darkness and restaurants were told to remove the words 'dog meat' from their menus in an attempt to cover up the festival's existence.

At the Yulin No.1 Crispy Dog Meat restaurant they have even covered up the Chinese character for dog. 

The locals eat dogs all year round but there is a massive surge in tourism and demand for dog meat when people celebrate the Summer Solstice at the annual festival. 

Yulin's authorities are 'very nervous' and have issued warnings to meat sellers to be ready for the protesters from all over the world to descend on the city as the festival's date approaches, said Humane Society Intentional (HSI) who shared these heartbreaking images with MailOnline

It 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. 

 

Fight against annual Yulin dog-meat festival in China (related)

 

 

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Unsafe: It is legal to eat dogs in China but the animals being transported to Yulin (pictured on June 17) all require 'inspection certificates' to prove they are safe for human consumption 

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But many traders cannot provide this paperwork for the dogs they are killing and selling in Yulin (pictured) Animal protection charity Humane Society International claims

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Scared: Yulin's authorities are 'very nervous' and have issued warnings to meat sellers (pictured) to be ready for the protesters to descend on the city

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Illegal: The local government could be violating China's national policy because the animals being slaughtered in Yulin (pictured on June 17) do not have proper transport and health documents

'Even from a human health and law enforcement perspective, this is a significant scandal in China and the local authorities really are on very shaky ground by allowing Yulin to go ahead,' HSI spokesperson Wendy Higgins told MailOnline.

The mass-transport of animals over long distances increases the risk of rabies and threatens the health and safety of the people who eat them.

Guangxi province historically has the highest number of rabies death in China and Yulin - based in its south-west - recorded 338 deaths from rabies between 2002 and 2006 alone, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. 

'These images prove beyond doubt that the dog and cat slaughter continues in Yulin and that animals are still being trucked in to Yulin in large numbers,' Wendy said.

She added: 'Remember, according to the Yulin authorities these animals don't exist because they claimed a while ago that the Yulin festival was "banned".

'These images prove what a deceptive claim that was, the suffering continues despite unprecedented levels of protest internationally and inside China. 

'The animals all look in a pretty bad physical state, but mentally too you can see these animals are stressed and afraid. 

'Somewhere far across China, there will be people in towns and cities desperately missing their much loved cat and dog companions and wondering where they are

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3131202/Business-booming-Yulin-No-1-Crispy-Dog-Meat-restaurant-Shocking-cats-canines-crammed-cages-ready-slaughter-days-ahead-meat-festival-s-outraged-world.html#ixzz3dbbdDHZy
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