Stop Yulin 2016

June 21st.

Days away.

Soon the brutal torture and murder of innocent dogs and cats will begin.

The Yulin Festival will once again be being ‘celebrated’ in China this year on June 21st, despite last years disgust and outcry against the festival, and the 11 million signed petition being presented to the Chinese government only days ago.

I have already written about the Horrors of the Dog Meat trade with all the details of why some Asian people believe in torturing, killing and eating dogs and cats throughout the year but specifically during the Yulin Festival. The suffering and torment of the dogs who are stolen from their families, tortured horrifically with blow torches, boiling acid and blunt instruments before their throats are slit, all whilst they are still alive and conscious  is barbaric and just plain evil.

Whilst many might say that the Yulin Festival is a tradition rooted within Chinese culture, this festival only began in 2010 by dog meat traders to try and bring up the sales of dog meat which were flagging. Others might say that eating dog is the same as Westerners eating cows, pigs or chickens, yet we DO NOT torture every single animal before they are killed and do not begin cutting into them whilst they are still fully alive and conscious. There are exceptions to this but they do not stand for the industry as a whole in comparison to the dog meat industry where it is not just common place but accepted and encouraged to torture the dogs to ‘improve the flavour’. And we do not eat farm animals to improve our sexual prowess. There is a marked difference in our treatment of farm animals and the dogs and cats who suffer in China.

People all over the world have cried out against the cruelty and asked for the festival to be ended. There has more coverage on the festival, and China as a whole, over the last few years than ever before, and it is because of social media. There have been more articles written and celebrities speaking out against this than ever before, just see below for all the articles written in the last few months about this festival from all over the world.

Articles from 2016

Daily Mail – Vanderpumps Stand Against Yulin

Next Shark – End Yulin

The Independent 

TIME

The Huffington Post – 200 Rescued but More to Save

CNBC

HSI – Stars Against Yulin

The Inquisitr – Rejection of petition in London but acceptance in China

IBTimes

The Quint

The Times of India

Blog – Waterthruskin

Travel – Aol

One Green Planet

Washington Post

NPR

NY Times

Metro

IBTimes – Yulin Still Going Ahead Despite Global Outcry

Blog – Humane Society CEO

BBC

ITV

The Independent – New Pictures of the Nightmare of Yulin

The Express

The Huffington Post – Help End the Barbaric Trade

These two websites have a wealth of information as well as how to get involved, support them and donate to the cause, all listed here;

The Humane Society International – Dog Meat Trade

• Shutting Down the Dog Meat Trade Campaign
• Ricky Gervais says Yulin is Heartbreaking as HSI saves his little dog from Yulin
• Donate to Save Dogs from Yulin
• Sign the pledge against the Dog Meat Trade

Stop Yulin Forever

Voiceless Friends

And so I ask you, days before this horrific spectacle of human cruelty begins, to think about those dogs who will be boiled alive, have their legs cut off, burned alive, bludgeoned, cut and tortured for entertainment and for snacks. Think of your own dog or dogs you know and love, and imagine it happening to them. Imagine the terror your dog would experience and the fear and agony you would feel if you knew that was where your dog was going. Think of all the pain and suffering they will undergo…for a snack. For male sexual potency. For entertainment.

Think of this. And if your heart breaks like mine does, please sign the below petitions and think of donating to one of the sites at the bottom of the page.

Petitions

Change – Stop The Yulin Dog Meat Festival

Change – Goverment of China, Stop the Torture of Dogs at Yulin Festival

Avaaz – Stop the Puppy Slaughter

iheartdogs -Government of China – Save Thousands of Animals Now

Animal Asia – End Yulin Festival

UK Goverment and Parlaiment – Urge the South Korean Government to end the Brutal Dog Meat Trade

iheartdogs – End the Yulin Dog Meat Festival

Care2 – Stop Yulin Dog Meat Festival

The Petition Site – Stop Yulin 2016

The Petition Site – End Yulin Dog Meat Festival

Donate

There is a fundraiser happening to help save some of the dogs bound for slaughter, you can find this at Change – Help Us Provide Direct Emergency Care for the Dogs in Yulin

The Humane Society International is doing amazing work in China and has already saved hundreds of dogs. They work throughout the year to stop the consumption and torture of dogs. You can donate to them here.

This needs to stop. Please show your love and support for these dogs who will die this year and try to stop more being killed for nothing.

 

 

 

For Hercules.

This poor puppy was only two weeks old when he died, and he suffered immensely in this time, just because his breeder cared more about money than his little life.

Please watch Hercules Tragic Story

Sat at work now, writing this I am crying at the cruelty he suffered and the greed that caused his pain and death. I’m crying for how much he suffered, and that there was nothing that could be done to stop the pain or save his life. I’m crying that another innocent puppy has suffered and died in the name of puppy farming, for money.This didn’t need to happen.

For an in depth look at puppy farming please see my post here. Please also see Pup Aid, Puppy Love Campaigns and Naturewatch. Sign the RSPCA – Scrap Puppy Farming

Please be aware of puppy farming. Please understand what is happening right here in this country every single day; puppies are dying and crying out in agony because of people greed and lack of knowledge. Please help stop their suffering, and the constant suffering of their parents too.

Please share Hercules. Please share his story and stop more puppies suffering the same fate. Please help stop puppy farming. Share his story, my post, websites, anything to raise awareness and stop this unnecessary cruelty, suffering and death.

RIP Hercules. You were loved by all of those who tried to save you, and by all of us who share your story. Run free and be happy over the Rainbow Bridge

For Hercules, and for all puppies and dogs victim to puppy farming x

Paws Crossed for this Year

A new year. A time to look hopefully to the future.This year I hope we can seriously make head way with animal welfare.

Puppy farming has become far more publicly acknowledged, with newspapers and TV shows and articles occurring on a fairly frequent basis. There has also been a rise in the number of people prosecuted for puppy farming as well, which is a promising sign. Puppy farming needs to stop, and it would be fantastic if we could get the government to listen to this important animal welfare issue and bring in stricter laws and harsher punishments. I hope that with the help of other like minded people, we can help bring this about. If you are interested in helping this important cause there are a number of events occurring throughout the year, one of the big ones being Pup Aid, which will be happening in London and is an event dedicated to raising awareness and hopefully ending puppy farming. Pup Aid has all the details, plus key information about the cruel industry as well as their ‘Where’s Mum?’ campaign. I shall be attending this event, and it would be great to see some of you supporting puppies and dogs who suffer from this abhorrent practice and try to bring about the stop those who put profit before puppy and dog welfare. For more information about puppy farming and links to other websites please see my Puppy Farming post. If you can do one thing this year, please share this subject with everyone you know and raise the awareness of puppy farming and their suffering that is happening in this country, and across the world. There is no need for this intense suffering and we need to end it now.

The protestation about the Yulin Dog and Cat meat festival last year was the biggest it has ever been, with thousands of complaints and petitions for the horrific festival to be stopped. Newspapers and tv stations covered the practice, and the torture that occurs. Of course, dogs and cats are cruelly abused and tortured for meat on a daily basis in Asia, something I will be discussing in my upcoming blog post. The sheer volume of animals that suffer for this festival alone is appalling and the practice of abuse and torture before the animal is killed is sickening. We have more exposure to this festival now than we had previously, and that means more people can see the cruelty that is taking place and that needs to be stopped. I hope that you all will sign petitions against this cruelty and show your disgust with China for allowing this to continue. I hope this year that we, as a Western power that China relies on, can pressure China into acting against this cruel trade and stop the consumption of dog and cat meat, and end the Yulin festival for good. For more information on this subject, please see my blog post in the next few weeks, but I do warn you not to Google the subject if you are sensitive to graphic images.

Animal testing is coming more and more into the limelight, and Cruelty Free living becoming more mainstream. More people are becoming aware of the suffering that companies put animals through so they can make a profit, and they are choosing not to buy cruelty products. I believe this is again an issue of awareness; many people would not buy products that were tested on animals if they were aware of it, and if they knew what other products there are to buy which do not harm animals in any way. The secrecy around brands and their processes needs to end, and the lies that they spread about themselves so they can appear ethical needs to stop. People should be able to make an informed decision about the products that they buy, and what they are giving their money to support. Some companies like Urban Decay and Body Shop make out to be the ethical choice but they are owned by an animal testing company, and people should be aware of the fact that the money this give to these companies ultimately supports animal testing. I believe animal testing for cosmetics is beginning to be pushed out of society, with many countries banning the practice and it becoming far easier to buy Cruelty Free products. We need to wield our Western power, again with countries like China, who do the majority of cosmetic animal testing, to stop this practice. Animal testing for medicine is another, more controversial matter, and something I will be discussing in another blog post. And educational testing is again a matter to be discussed. I hope that this year we can push for more countries to ban animal testing and for the secrecy that surrounds companies to be removed so more people can make an informed decisions about the products they buy and the companies they support. Another key change that would impact the suffering caused by animal testing is if we could push for the government to pass legislation against the testing of ingredients for cleaning and cosmetics, instead of just the whole products as it is now. These changes would vastly affect the amount of animals that suffer in the name of beauty. I have a number of posts relating to animal testing and those companies which are guilty of it, please do check them out.

The consumption of leather and fur within the UK is still a big issue, and something that is vastly ignored. Fur trim and clothing made out of fur such an angora is still present in a wide variety of shops such as Kurt Geiger and House of Fraser. Adding to this problem is the mis-labeling of items as faux-fur when in actual fact it is real fur. It is also not a well known fact that many leather items that are present on the UK market are assumed to be cow or pig leather when in actual fact they are dog or cat leather. This subject ties into the dog meat subject which I will be writing about soon. This is something that needs more publicity and needs to be discussed more by animal lovers, newspapers and Tv stations as well as charitable organisations. I believe that if people were aware that the leather they are looking at could be dog or cat, they would be horrified and would not choose to buy such items. Again, if people were aware of the suffering of rabbits for angora fur, I believe they would choose not to support such a barbaric and cruel trade. For more information on angora fur please see my Bunnies deserve More post and look out for my upcoming leather post.

The last big one for me, and is more specific than the above, is the plan for the beagle breeding facility in York. This was approved last year, however due to the intense protests of people throughout the United Kingdom, this decision is now being questioned. I believe the decision on whether or not the plan will be going ahead will be coming out soon, and I desperately hope that they won’t allow the facility to be built. Beagles are such loving, loyal and docile creatures, which is why they are exploited so much but this needs to stop. Testing on dogs and cats in this country, and the world needs to end; its an archaic and brutal practice, and it is questionable whether or not it truly advances science, especially when there are so many advanced alternatives out there which have been proven to give better results than animal testing. I hope this doesn’t go ahead, and that this can be the turning point against the use of dogs and cats, and hopefully animals in general for scientific testing. For more information about beagles and their use in testing please see my previous Stop the Suffering of Beagles post and Tears for Unloved Paws post.

These are keys issues which would affect so many animals and save so many lives. There are other issues within animal welfare, of course but I have simply picked out the ones that are close to my heart and that I desperately want to stop. It truly breaks my heart when I think of the suffering that goes on in the country and around the world, and I need to try and help. If you feel that you want to help, please share the truth of these issues to everyone you know and raise awareness for these issues. You can also join and support charities such as Naturewatch and Puppy Love Campaigns amoung others with donations and voluntary work. Finally, you can go along to events that support the end of these cruel practices and raise awareness, there are always events going on throughout the country such as Paws in the Park and Pup Aid.

Please support animals and end their suffering by raising awareness and donating your time and money. Many of us keep them in our home and love them more than can be expressed. They save us and care for us when no one else can or will. Can’t we do the same for them?  We can end all of this injustice and cruelty, we just need to make our voices heard for those who cannot speak. For those who are innocent of crime and suffer intensely for our luxuriously lifestyle. Please please please help save animals this year, in any way you can.

For the paws xxx

 

Stop Puppy Farming

This is a subject about our own country which I think is completely appalling. It breaks my heart and its devastating that so many dogs suffer so much. That we allow this to happen is so wrong and it needs to stop. This is something I feel extremely strongly about and want to stop because it was save so much suffering for dogs, and save the heartbreak of so many children and dog lovers. Again I have held back the worst of the pictures which truly illustrate the suffering, but I have included some. These photos show the conditions and dogs who have suffered through puppy farms. For more pictures of what is really happening, go to the sites listed at the bottom or google puppy farming.

People might think that puppy farming doesn’t happen in this country, that its illegal and that we, as an animal loving nation, would never allow this to happen, especially on a vast scale. But they would be wrong. Puppy farming is rampant in this country, and there are many farms throughout the UK that hold these institutions of suffering for hundreds of dogs.

So that everyone understands what happens in a puppy farm, and why this needs to stop, lets go through the life of a dog born at a puppy farm.

The mother will give birth to a litter of puppies. This will be just one of many litters that she gives birth to. The puppies will be desperate for her love and attention, as well as her warmth and nutrition. But after so many litters and in such poor health she can barely lift her head up to see her new born pups, let alone care for them. She herself is cold, laying on the hard floor filled with filth and blood from the birth, and there is very little milk as she gets so little food herself. The puppies will try to cuddle close to her and each other, but on a cold, hard floor with so much filth around them and no comfort at all, its a hard start to life. Some puppies will not make it through lack of food and warmth.

The puppies that do survive will grow, but little will improve for them. Their mother will try and care for them, but she herself is exhausted and in so much pain. They will not go outside to play, not meet anyone to cuddle them or play with them. They will spend their first few weeks completely alone with each other in their cell, nothing breaking their monotony. As many dog lovers will know, these first few weeks of a puppies life are crucial as it can determine what kind of life they will have as dogs when they grow up, yet these puppies will know nothing of humans. All they will know is their breeder, who doesn’t care at all for their welfare and will not hesitate to shout, hit, kick and roughly handle these puppies and their mother. They will not have any medication and will be left in their own filth for weeks.

During this time they can contract a number of serious diseases, fleas, ticks, mites and infections from the number of other dogs surrounding them as well as the appalling state of their cell, through neglect from their breeder.

Puppies should not be separated from their mother before  6 weeks or more, as many people know, however breeders will take the first opportunity i.e. when the puppies have open eyes, can stand and look cute enough to put them up for sale. This can mean puppies as young as 3-4 weeks can be torn from their mothers and sold to fend for themselves in a new home.

Breeders will take the puppies, cover them in talcum power and every effort is made to make them look cute, without worrying about the puppies welfare. They will not be taken to a vet, nor any injuries or issues they have seen to. They will be photographed in an environment made to look like a family home and to look like they are loved and cared for. Breeders will rent out houses and spaces made to look like homes to fool people into thinking the puppies are from a loving home, instead of a cell with no human contact. This will be the first time the puppy will have left its cell and been without its mother, so the whole situation with the people, lights and environment is probably very scary for the little thing. Photos like the one above are then put up on websites to sell the puppies for massive profit, masking the true suffering the puppies are going through.

Once the photographs are taken, the puppies are taken back to their cell and thrown back in with their mother until they are sold. The puppies will then be transported to a car park or to a rented out house to look like a home where the unsuspecting new owners will collect their puppy. The mother will remain in her cell alone.

For those puppies sold on, some are lucky and can start again in their new homes. They can be loved and cared for and go on to lead loving lives with their new families, leaving the horrible start to life they had behind them. But, unfortunately, this is not the case for many puppies.

Many puppies will have suffered much as the puppy farming and will have contracted deadly diseases such as Parvo. The owners will take their puppy home and notice they are perhaps not as bouncy as they should be, and within 24 hours, perhaps more, they will notice very concerning signs. The puppy will be vomiting, have diarrhea, wont eat or drink, be bleeding or a number of other serious symptoms, which will prompt a visit to the vets.

The vets will then inform the owners of how sick and malnourished their puppy is, and many puppies will have to stay at the vets. Some puppies will die within 24 hours of being in their new home, others will linger on to suffer large amounts of pain as the vets try to save their lives. New owners will have to pay hundreds, if not thousands of pounds on their new puppy, let alone the extortionate price they paid to the breeder in the first place.

Some puppies will make it through, but their lives will forever be marred by their time at the puppy farming, suffering from long term illnesses and pain or only living to be a few years old before they cant carry on. Other puppies will die within a few weeks of being in their new owners care.

But what about the mother? She will continue to have litter after litter after litter. And the father? The stud dogs who are also held by the same breeder will be forced to mate with her again and again before being thrown back into a cell on their own. Both parents will contract diseases, be covered in fleas, ticks and mites, get infections, tumors and have rotten teeth. At no point in their cruel little lives will they be cared for in anyway.

Until the mother cannot give birth again. She will then be shot, or worse, and be thrown away like rubbish in a skip. She will never know love, joy, comfort or compassion, only a life instead that cell. One of her puppies will then take her place and continue on this legacy of neglect, pain and suffering.

The same will happen with the stud dogs.

These dogs and puppies suffer so very much in these horrific farms, where the breeders will sell puppies for anywhere between 300 to over 1,000 pounds. The breeders will make thousands of pounds off of the suffering of puppies and dogs, and they will never regard those dogs or puppies as anything other than assets to be sold, profit to be made. They do not care about the dogs, in any way. They see these dogs as less than cattle, crops to be churned out. Not as loving beings who need love, care and attention, it is always ALWAYS profit.

So I ask you, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you want a dog or puppy DO NOT buy one. You are paying for hundreds of dogs to live their lives in cells, depressed and suffering everyday. You are paying for puppies to die painful, premature deaths. You are paying for the heartbreak of yourself, your family, your children and other families. You are paying for cruel, evil people to make thousands and thousands of pounds a year from the pain and death of puppies and dogs.

And you cannot save a puppy from these horrible conditions. Breeders know that they can sell puppies in this well, as well as with pretending they are from loving homes, so please don’t be fooled into buying a puppy from them, for any reason.

There are so many wonderful dogs and puppies desperate for homes in shelters all over the UK, and the world! A shelter dog is killed every hour in the UK because there is so much over-crowding in shelters, and there is no room. If people stopped buying puppies and adopted dogs and puppies from shelters instead, thousands of dogs wouldn’t be put down every year. These dogs are so desperate to loved, to be given a forever home and be a part of a family. They are there through not fault of their own and just want to love someone.

Instead of paying for death and suffering, you can adopt and really save lives. Save the life of your dog, save the life of the dog who can then be homed in that shelter now there is a space. And if there was no trade to be had from puppy farms, people would stop, and the intense suffering of these dogs and puppies would stop.

If you have bought a puppy within the last five years, please consider filling out the below survey. Its completely anonymous, and will greatly help in the fight against puppy farming.

The Great British Puppy Survey

The RSPCA has this video which shows how puppies are kept at puppy farms. The video has no graphic content, it simply shows how the puppies are thought of.

RSPCA Video of Puppies in Large Buckets

They have a petition online to end puppy farming, please sign it to help end puppy farming.

RSPCA Petition to end Puppy Farming

For more information please visit these sites, and consider supporting them. These are the people that are closing down puppy farming and rescuing puppies like the one above. These are the organisation who rescues both parents and puppies and give them veterinary care as well as a forever home where they can be loved and cherished the way they should be. These are the people we should support;

Naturewatch; An absolutely fantastic team who are completely dedicated to ending the suffering of all animals, and to educate people about puppy farming. They do everything within their power to get people within power on the side of puppies and to bring about the end of puppy farming and dog suffering.

Puppy Love Campaigns; A truly great organisation who go to great lengths to expose the truth of puppy farming and the tragic lives of the dogs and pups trapped there.They have a lot of information and ways you can help.

Cariad; Another excellent organisation who do everything they can to end puppy farming, and help those dogs suffering at the hands of cruel breeders.

Pup Aid; Another amazing organisation dedicated to ending puppy farming through education, events and petitions. They do a lot to bring puppy farming to people attention and to bring in laws to end puppy farming.

Four Paws; A great animal welfare organisation who campaign for the welfare of all animals, and have great information on puppy farming.

Please consider supporting one of these organisations, who desperately need support to help these defenseless dogs.

Article from the BBC

Article from the Express

Article from the Independent

Article from the Mirror

Article from the Guardian

Article from the Daily Mail

Please consider the intense pain and suffering of these poor, innocent dogs. They don’t deserve this kind of treatment. They don’t deserve to die painfully. They don’t deserve to never know love, joy or comfort. Please help stop puppy farming.

For the paws xxxx