Pressuring China to abolish dog meat festival
Animal rights activist John Lekas is trying to convince US President Donald Trump that it is necessary to pressure China to abolish the heinous dog meat festival in the city of Yulin. To this end, he is attempting to gather 2 million electronic signatures to the White House so that the American president can take concrete initiatives, while through “THEMAtos” he also invites the Greeks to assist in his project. The disposal of dog meat in China is another link in the country’s ailing food chain, where even the elementary hygiene rules are non-existent, sparking diseases on a massive scale, such as the recent case of crown. The images of
thousands of dogs on the streets of Yulin waiting for their slaughter, having
previously suffered horrific torture, really cause shuddering. The outcry
resolutions around the globe for this inhumane “event”, attended every year by about 100,000 visitors, and the resounding hollywood star interventions (Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Damon, Kristen Bell, Kate Mara) to end it did not have a substantial effect, since the barbarity festival has already completed 10 years. GreekAmerican John Lekas asks the US president by letter that all pressure be exhausted on China to ultimately ban the slaughter and consumption of dogs. At the same time, he created an online email platform (www.lycheeproject.com) from campaign supporters to Donald Trump to persuade him to include this serious issue in his negotiations with China so that residents and visitors to Yulin not to celebrate the summer solstice again next June in this incredible way.
Animal welfare organisations estimate that every year about 10,000 to 15,000 dogs are killed at the festival and then consumed in the city’s flea markets. “We are calling for the festival to be banned because it could help create another outbreak of virus in China,” John Lekas says speaking to “THEME”, noting: “If you look at the images of how these poor dogs torture and slaughter, you will understand that it is extremely unhealthy and dangerous. There will be more cases until they stop living in these areas as thugs in the Middle Ages. Dog festivals, particularly in Yulin, should close tomorrow morning.” An email received by the Greek-American businessman with video from the festival in china’s province was enough for his direct involvement in the effort to abolish this brutal institution. It was so so.
Source: https://files.constantcontact.com/7c75deae701/a5e2c6c5-9fec-4290-aa39-cc17db508d7d.pdf
The spectacle that left no room for inaction. “A lot of people oppose things, but they have to have the will and the way to achieve results. And President Trump has become the “way” for me to press the Chinese and ban this festival. We have introduced legislation that has become a bill, but it has not yet been signed.” The consumption of dog and cat meat is nothing unknown in China and more broadly in Asia, as some 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are killed each year for this purpose. In fact, consumers believe that the stress of torture experienced by dogs and cats makes their meat more tender, while its consumption is considered to bring luck, good health and even improved sexual performance of men. Among the benefits of ending this festival during the ongoing negotiations between the US and China, Mr. Lekas writes in his letter to Trump: “1) The US would prove that they are fighting for human treatment not only of people but and animals. 2) There are more than 46 million households in the U.S. who have dogs as pets. I
believe that 100% of voters, about 100 million who have pets, would see your handling of such cruelty in a particularly positive way.” The Greek-American activist is asking the website www.lycheeproject.com to create a political movement that will be expressed by sending emails to the White House so as not to repeat the barbaric dog festival in the Chinese city. To this end, he has paid for registrations in the major US media. But it wasn’t just that. He hired former Portland city commissioner Loretta Smith, who now heads a consulting firm, to give institutional momentum to his project through contacts in Congress and the Senate. Indeed, 34 members of Congress signed a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking him to raise this issue in US trade talks with countries where dog meat is allowed to be sold. As he tells us, his grandfather Vassilis emigrated to the USA at the beginning of the last century from the village of Athikia of Corinth. In 1925, she found him in New York and then in Orecon, where he had four children. John Lekas grew up in Portland where he studied Economics, while working on fishing boats and carpenters. He set up a mutual fund management company, charting an important course in the field of investment while commenting on economic developments in the world’s largest media.
