A photo showing scores of dogs in cages has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram alongside a claim that it was taken in the southern Chinese city of Yulin in June 2020. This claim is false; the photo shows dogs rescued from the meat trade in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan in 2012.
The photo was published here on Facebook on June 30, 2020. It has since been shared more than 180 times.
A screenshot taken on July 9, 2020, of the misleading Facebook post
The post's caption reads, in part: "This is Yulin, China. / Dogs and cats are boiled alive, beaten into convulsions, set on fire.... all while being conscious. Many of these animals are stolen from loving families / This photo was taken 6/23/2020."
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Yulin is a city in southern China's Guangxi province, which hosts an annual dog meat festival during the summer solstice. Here is an AFP report of the 2020 festival, which went ahead in late June despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The photo was also shared here on Facebook; here, here and here on Twitter; and here on Instagram.
However, the claim is false.
A reverse image search of the photo in the misleading posts found a similar photo published in this April 26, 2012, article by the US news outlet Huffington Post, headlined: "Caged Chinese Dogs Saved From Cooking Pot After Animal Rescue Steps In (PICTURES)".
The report reads, in part: "Chinese activists have rescued hundreds of caged dogs that were due to be slaughtered and served up in restaurants.
"The activists intercepted a truck carrying the desperate cargo on a motorway in Yunnan Province. On board were found more than 550 dogs packed into around 150 small cages."
The photo in the report is credited to Rex Features, a UK-based photo agency now called Shutterstock Editorial.
A subsequent search found the photo published here on the Shutterstock Editorial website.
A screenshot of the photo on the Shutterstock Editorial website The photo description reads: "Truck full of caged dogs heading for dog meat restaurants stopped, Yunnan Province, China - 19 Apr 2012."
Yunnan is a province in southern China.
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Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo in the misleading post (L) and the Shutterstock Editorial photo (R) – AFP has circled identical parts in red:
Screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) Shutterstock Editorial photo (R) The incident was also reported by the Yunnan-based news website GoKunming here on April 24, 2012.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by BOOM staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)