China dog meat festival goes ahead but Covid-19 takes a toll

Volunteers at a Beijing dog shelter hand out treats to dozens of rescued animals that had been bound for a controversial dog meat festival underway this week in southern China. The annual event in Yulin city always provokes outrage from animal rights activists, but this year they hope the coronavirus epidemic will be the death knell of a tradition they see as cruel. It is “inhumane and barbaric”, said Jeffrey Bari, founder of the No Dogs Left Behind organisation, which keeps around 200 canines in large wire enclosures on the outskirts of the Chinese capital and re-homes them. For latest…