In the U.S. and in many other nations, dogs are considered loyal and loving pets, not a food source even though slaughtering dogs for meat in this country is, for the most part, legal.
The situation is different in China where dogs are celebrated as dinner at the annual Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, or simply the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, held for one week in late June. The festival coincides with the summer solstice, and as many as 10,000 canines are consumed in that week alone, according to the BBC.
Despite the widespread practice of eating dogs in many parts of the world, the festival has brought condemnation from animal activist groups and individuals including Gypsy Canyon Winery’s Deborah Hall, who recently traveled to Yulin last June on a mission to rescue dogs.
At Gypsy Canyon, Hall produces a Santa Rita Hills pinot noir called Ground Boots. She said the profits from the sale of the wine will be donated to the Soi Dog Foundation, a Thailand-based nonprofit dedicated to eradicating the dog meat industry. Creation of the wine was prompted by Hall’s trip to China where she witnessed the conditions endured by the dogs awaiting slaughter.
Hall’s trip was sponsored by Davey’s Voice, a Santa Barbara nonprofit whose mission is to fight animal abuse.
Prior to the trip, Hall and Davey’s Voice founder Gretchen Lieff bonded over their love of wine and dogs. When discussion of the Dog Meat Festival came up, they decided Hall would go.
In Nanning, China, Hall met up with Los Angeles-based dog rescuer Marc Ching of the Sherman Oaks nonprofit Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, and eight other rescuers from the U.S. and other parts of the world. The group’s mission was to embark on an attempt to save 100 dogs from being slaughtered.
Four hours from the airport sits Yulin, a city that Hall described as a contradictory city, a bustling metropolis with designer stores and skyscrapers built next to old, run-down shacks. Hall said that because she and her group stood out from the rest of the population, they didn’t get a friendly reception from many of the locals. Hall said she thinks it’s because they knew why she and her group were there.
From the moment they arrived in Yulin, Hall recalls, they were tailed by plain-clothes Chinese police officers. She suspects they were there to protect them from any harm that might’ve come their way. In one cellphone video recorded by Hall, they appeared to be friendly and waving at the group of foreigners.
Hall said her group was ultimately unable to get into the festival. Instead, the group went to slaughterhouses where Ching paid the butchers in exchange for the living dogs, all of which were being kept in deplorable conditions while awaiting slaughter. Hall said that the practice of killing dogs was once done in the open streets, but because the festival has received negative attention in recent years the practice was moved to clandestine slaughterhouses.
At one slaughterhouse, she described the scene as chaotic and “a little scary.” Hall saw dozens of emaciated dogs cramped in a pen. Many of the dogs she saw were full-breeds still wearing their collars, which led Hall to suspect they were stolen from their owners. At another slaughterhouse, Hall saw multiple dogs stuffed in tiny cages. Many were already dead.
She added that it seemed like Chinese government officials turn a blind eye to the slaughtering of dogs despite the abhorrent conditions in which she said they are kept. Although their laws may not protect dogs from being killed for food, Hall said that livestock and food contamination laws should be enforced.
“People are eating sick and poisoned dogs,” Hall said, adding that the Chinese people consume dog meat for its supposed health benefits. “That’s not healthy at all.”
Lieff, of Davey’s Voice, said her larger objection is to the abuse the animals endure in the final moments of their lives.
“I don’t have an issue with the eating of an animal,” Lieff said. “They can eat what they want. It’s just the way the animals are dispatched. It’s utterly barbaric.”
Not everyone overlooked the conditions the dogs endure before slaughter. Hall described some Buddhist monks who were blasting meditation music toward the dogs in an effort to calm them.
Before leaving, Hall’s group was successful in rescuing hundreds of dogs, which were sent to a safe house in Nanning, where they were given vaccinations and other medical care.
Davey’s Voice successfully secured 41 of the dogs, six of which arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 19. Many of the dogs have already found homes. One dog, possibly a greyhound, who Hall named Lady, will live with Hall. Hall described her trip as a very emotional ordeal.
Lieff said she is starting to see more activism against animal abuse, particularly across social media. She’s hoping the message will keep spreading.
 “I do feel that more and more people are aware of it,” Lieff said. “I feel every one of the 41 doggies will be an ambassador to the people here.”
 Lieff is currently in the process of finding foster homes for the dogs. For more information, call 565-0001 or visit daveysvoice.org/yulin-adoption.html.Â
Highlights
Learn the tips other entrepreneurs use to become successful, and maybe connect with some future employers at the 2016 Solvang Chamber Business Expo. Admission is $10. The expo will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. at Hotel Corque located at 400 Alisal Road in Solvang. For more information, call 688-0701 or visit solvangcc.com.
Staff Writer David Minsky wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, email, or mail.
This article appears in Sep 22-29, 2016.
