Dozens of Dogs, Cats Arriving in NYC Spared from Chinese Slaughterhouse — and Being Served as Meat; ‘Nobody knows how horrific it is’: Race is on to Rescue Animals from Annual Chinese Dog-Eating Festival Where Pets are Stolen from Owners then Tortured to Death Because Their Heightened Adrenalin ‘improves the meat’

Dozens of dogs and cats touched down in the Big Apple this week after a rescue group said they were spared from Chinese slaughterhouses that would’ve served them as meat.

Volunteers from the New York-based No Dogs Left Behind showed up at JFK Airport in Queens on Tuesday with fluffy golden retrievers, curly-haired poodles and labrador mixes they claimed were set to be killed, then eaten during a controversial summer festival.

“This is why I risk my life on the front lines: Because this dog would have been dog meat,” the foundation’s leader, Jeffrey Beri, told The Post as he held a poodle named Bluebell.

“Never in your life would I let something like this be beaten and tortured.”

Without their efforts, the animals would likely face a gruesome end, Beri said — they would be tortured, murdered and cooked as part of the heartless Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in the southern Chinese city of Yulin.

The festival was launched in 2010 by dog meat traders who wanted to fight falling sales, according to the Humane Society International.

Although attendance at the 10-day event has waxed and waned over the years — especially because of the COVID-19 pandemic — butchers reportedly murdered more than 15,000 dogs at its height.

But they’re not just slaughtered — they’re often beaten, burned, boiled or skinned alive first because of a misguided belief that their fear hormones make the meat taste better, animal activists said.

“So [they] torture, torture, torture,” Beri, 59, of Canton, New York, told The Post. “The more you torture the animal, the more tender the meat is. [But] there is zero evidence of that … it’s all myths, and none of this is backed up by scientific evidence.” —>READ MORE HERE

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Nobody knows how horrific it is’: Race is on to rescue animals from annual Chinese dog-eating festival where pets are stolen from owners then tortured to death because their heightened adrenalin ‘improves the meat’:

Animal rights groups are preparing to rescue dozens of dogs from a barbaric ‘festival’ in China where pets are not only eaten but tortured first because raised adrenalin levels allegedly ‘heighten a man’s sexual prowess.’

Thousands of dogs are rounded up every year and sent to the 10-day Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in southern China. It is due to kick off on Wednesday.

Estimates are that 10,000 dogs are eaten – with lychees – each year.

‘Nobody knows how horrific it is. I’ve been there,’ Los Angeles animal advocate Bobi Leonard who has traveled to China multiple times told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

‘There are a lot of people there who are against it,’ added Leonard, a skin-care expert who donates 20% of her profits to animal charities. ‘They are advocates that really fight.’

Eating dogs is common in China and some other parts of Asia and has been for hundreds of years, but owners who have adopted rescued dogs say what happens every year in Yulin is truly horrifying.

The dogs are tormented in the most unspeakable ways before being killed with the belief that the heightened adrenaline released due to the pain improves the quality of the meat, Sheena Gao a board member of the Animals Hope and Wellness Foundation, which has shelters in both China and Los Angeles, explained.

Festival goers also believe this ‘improved’ meat increases male sexual performance, wards off disease and provides good fortune.

‘The dogs are torched, clubbed, boiled alive, skinned alive. It’s absolutely horrific,’ said Gao, who along with composer Rayko spearheaded a June 11 fundraiser at the Rafi Lounge in Malibu hosted by the groups Yoga Stops Yulin and In Defense of Animals. —>READ MORE HERE