By Jill Robinson, Animals Asia founder

With the Yulin dog meat festival about to take place, there has never been greater interest in the issue of dog meat eating in China.

Last year we saw the local authorities distance themselves from the festival. This year unprecedented opposition has seen it hit the headline again. We await reports on how this has affected this years’ events.

We are indebted to over 80,000 of our supporters who have added their name to an open letter to the dog meat traders. That letter has been forwarded to the Yulin authorities alongside a wider document outlining the criminality, cruelty and lack of hygiene that characterises the industry.

Our team has also posted the letter to our own social media including the details of the huge international response. Our ambassador superstar Karen Mok has also posted the letter to over 30m followers.

The message and the response is clear and unavoidable.

Talking to Karen about the response she received was enlightening. Many thousands shared the letters and the response was largely positive. But there was negativity too. Not least that the campaign could be seen within China as western-driven. It’s easy to understand how that could prompt opposition.

But this belies the fact those working so hard to combat cruelty to dogs and cats come from all countries and all backgrounds – and we’re proud to work at all levels. To coincide with Yulin, four in-depth reports were handed over to the authorities - clearly detailing the reality of the dog meat trade.

The criminality of the dog and cat meat industry is its Achilles heel. Dogs - as our reports showed - are not being farmed in huge numbers. They cannot be - they too territorial, too prone to disease. They’re too expensive to be farmed even under current regulations let alone “humanely”.  Instead the industry relies on stolen animals - a situation that prompts heartache and violence across the country.

This is not sustainable in any way and that means ultimately the dog and cat meat trade has no future.

In the meantime our dedicated cat and dog team will continue to push for change. Yulin brings focus to the campaign to end this cruel and criminal practice.  We will continue tomorrow and the days, months and years ahead. Our work won’t end when Yulin ends - it ends when dog meat trade ends.

We will remember that we have not just a duty promote change but a duty to spread awareness, information and understanding. Our job is not to attack those with opposing views - our job is to persuade. We can do that - and we can do it at all levels - thanks to the expertise, experience and information we have built up. Our job is to unite and harness support from east and west to create change.

Our huge thanks to everyone who is working to help these innocent lives. Our incredible supporters, our amazing team in China and the millions of animal lovers who want change.

Our work continues - until the cruelty ends.

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