Day 4 (FRIDAY APRIL 19TH 2013)

Husband Seafood Market, Wuhan

After visiting the farms at Jining and Jiaxiang we have decided to travel to Wuhan. Two local activists accompany us to a market where there is a business with exotic animals for sale. There is a large amount of caged live animals such as deer, alligators, rabbits, raccoons, hedgehogs, a porcupine, quail, donkeys and geese. There are fifteen dogs distributed in two cages, all of them puppies that are only a couple of months old. The dogs are dirty and laying in their own excrement. We do not know how long they have been there. On top of a cage there are a pair of large pincers which are used to grasp them by the neck and take them out of their cages without running the risk of being bitten. We observe that at least one dog has been killed that very morning since its skin is laying over one of the cages. In one of the baskets we can see a burnt dog’s skull. Despite watching the stall for various hours, no more dogs are sold that morning. They tell us the sale of dog meat in April is very low and that winter is the best time of year for them.