--- description: Activists in China saved up to 1,000 dogs and cats bound for the slaughterhouse title: China Activists Save 1000 Animals Ahead of Dog Meat Festival image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a8f90090416fd9b/6988d28797cdff2b5b6b143e/gettyimages-478052320.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Activists in China Saved 1,000 Animals From Slaughter Ahead of an Annual Dog Meat Festival by [Ryan Kilpatrick](/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 21, 2017 10:06 AM CUT  A dog looks out from its cage at a dog meat festival at a market in Yulin, in southern China on June 22, 2015. A dog looks out from its cage at a dog meat festival at a market in Yulin, in southern China on June 22, 2015.Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Kilpatrick](/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 21, 2017 10:06 AM CUT Activists in China [saved](http://www.hsi.org/news/press%5Freleases/2017/06/guangzhou-dog-cat-rescue-062017.html "undefined") up to 1,000 animals bound for the slaughterhouse Tuesday, ahead of a controversial dog-meat festival that many hoped had been called off. According to the Humane Society International (HSI), the dogs and cats were rescued from a truck intercepted in Guangzhou, southern China. HSI China policy specialist Peter Li said the intervention was “the single largest dog and cat truck rescue that we’ve seen so far in China.” This week the annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival begins in neighboring Guangxi, despite earlier reports that the local government had cancelled the event. The annual meat-fest regularly courts international condemnation. According to China’s state-backed newspaper the _Global Times_, this year’s festival will be more “[subdued](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1052675.shtml?utm%5Fcontent=bufferf0637&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer "undefined")” to avoid controversy. Last year, celebrities Matt Damon, Pamela Anderson and others added their voices to mounting [criticism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwbD8JcJgY "undefined") of the event. A petition in China to abolition the festival attracted [11 million](http://time.com/4363824/yulin-dog-meat-festival-china-petition/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined") signatures. Officially known as the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, the event has been celebrated on the Summer Solstice in Yulin for centuries. In Chinese Traditional Medicine, consuming dog meat is believed to ward off the heat in the balmy midsummer. 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