Judicial experts and animal specialists have said an upcoming festival that serves dog meat in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is illegal.

　　一些司法专家及动物学者们声称广西壮族自治区即将到来的狗肉节是不合法的。

点击放大图片

　　More than 40 specialists, including law professors, lawyers and animal rights activists, signed an agreement to shut down the festival on Friday, saying such a "tradition" will affect China's image overseas and should be banned.

　　40多个专家，包括法律专家、律师及动物权利保护者签署了一个协议声明，要求取消在周五取消狗肉节，并声称这样的“传统”会影响中国在海外的形象应该被禁止。

　　The annual festival, slated for June 21 in Yulin, celebrates a local tradition of eating dog meat hotpot and lychees and drinking strong liquor on the summer solstice.

　　在玉林每年6月21日这一天人们会吃狗肉火锅、吃荔枝、喝烈酒来庆祝夏至节。

　　But the festival has been shrouded in controversy since it was exposed on the Internet early this month. Some lawyers and animal rights associations even came to the city to investigate.

　　然而自从本月初这个节日被曝网上之后就饱受争议。一些律师和动物保护者协会就来到该市进行调查。

　　Li Weimin, a lawyer from Weibo Law Firm, went to the city twice over the past two weeks and said he found that most of the dog meat that is to be served at the festival is from the black market.

　　李伟民(音译)，一名来自微博法律团的律师，在过去的两周内去过玉林两次，他发现狗肉节上的大部分狗肉都来源自黑市。

　　"I was told there are four major workshops that produce dog meat in the city. I visited them and found all of them had no business licenses or certificates," Li said, adding he believed the meat made in such places was unhealthy.

　　“我被告知该城市有四大生产狗肉的作坊。我参观了这些地方发现他们都没有经营许可证，”李先生说道，他补充道在这样的地方加工的肉类一定很不健康。