International groups and celebrities, backed by millions of foreign petitioners, have rallied against an annual dog meat festival in the Chinese city of Yulin. But the protests may have backfired, residents say, spurring more people to eat man's best friend.

"My store's dog-meat sales are much higher than before, last year was up more than 50 per cent," the owner of Yulin Number One Crackling Dog Meat Shop told AFP.

The city, deep in the poverty-stricken southern Chinese region of Guangxi, has drawn international fury for the beating and boiling alive of animals in the belief that the more frightened the dogs, the tastier the meat, activists say...........................Read more

Source: THE STRAITS TIMES