Animal rights activists target China dog meat festival

FILE - In this June 21, 2015, file photo, dogs in cages are sold by vendors at a market during a dog meat festival in Yulin in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Animal rights activists on Monday, April 4, 2016, are seeking to shut down an annual summer dog meat festival in southern China blamed for blackening the country's international reputation as well as fueling extreme cruelty to canines and unhygienic food handling practices. (Chinatopix via AP, File) CHINA OUT (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this June 21, 2015, file photo, a man lights a cigarette as a cook roasts dogs at a restaurant in Yulin in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Animal rights activists on Monday, April 4, 2016 are seeking to shut down an annual summer dog meat festival in southern China blamed for blackening the country's international reputation as well as fueling extreme cruelty to canines and unhygienic food handling practices. (Chinatopix via AP, File) CHINA OUT (The Associated Press)

BEIJING – Animal rights activists are seeking to shut down an annual summer dog meat festival in southern China blamed for blackening the country's international reputation as well as fueling extreme cruelty to canines and unhygienic food handling practices.

Activists said Monday that they will continue press for the festival to be banned as well as legislation outlawing the slaughtering of dogs and cats and the consumption of their meat.

While an estimated 10-20 million dogs are slaughtered each year, the June 20 event in the city of Yulin has come to symbolize the cruelty and lack of hygiene associated with the largely unregulated industry.

Yu Hongmei, director of the VShine Animal Protection Association, said China needs to follow the example of developed nations that have banned eating dog and cat.