Our Blog - NoToDogMeat Foundation

I rescued a cute puppy from being turned into dog meat in China – now she’s a star

EXCLUSIVE: A dog rescued from a slaughterhouse in China has become a charity mascot and achieved international fame after trotting down the red carpet in Cannes.

When Julia de Cadenet first found Felicity in a slaughterhouse in China, she could not have predicted the Samoyed’s rise to international fame.

In 2018, Ms De Cadenet managed to enter, with the help of a local supporting her charity, a slaughterhouse where dogs and cats were being killed for the Chinese meat market and to negotiate the release of 17 pets.

For more information

Pigen Med Nalen” (The Girl With The Needle) Red Carpet – The 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival

CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 15: Julia de Cadenet (M) and Felicity the dog attend the “Pigen Med Nalen” (The Girl With The Needle) Red Carpet at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 15, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Form More Information

Felicity was saved from the dog meat trade in China— now she’s walking the red carpet at Cannes

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, is going on right now, with many of the world’s biggest movie stars in attendance.

But there’s one first-time attendee who is really stealing the show on the red carpet: a Samoyed named Felicity, who was saved from being slaughtered in the dog meat trade.

Form More Information

Dogs being skinned alive then plunged into boiling water, it’s inhuman – Julia de Cadenet

I have been in Borneo speaking at the Animals For Asia Conference about the work of World Protection for Dogs and Cats in the Meat Trade (NoToDogMeat), the charity I founded. I have been travelling to China since 1999. But it took me until 2009 when I was in Guangdong Southern China, where I came across a horrific dog meat market. What shocked me the most was seeing a torture market was right next to the pet dog market.

Form More Information

We have been at Yulin dog meat fest for a week, it is utterly obscene – JULIA de CADENET

Julia de Cadenet, CEO of the NoToDogMeat charity, is co-ordinating campaigners in the infamous Chinese city of Yulin where its annual dog-eating festival is in full flow. She reports on the horrors being witnessed.

Dotted around the countryside in Guangxi province en route to Yulin is a series of well-concealed puppy and dog farms. Traders supply the desire to eat dogs all year round in this sprawling city.

In 2021 we uncovered so many atrocities that contradicted what the ‘party’ line is when they say there are no dog farms in China.

Form More Information

Rescued Samoyed Walks Red Carpet at Cannes

A rescued Samoyed named Felicity made her grand debut at the world’s leading film festival earlier this week. Saved by an animal rights group from certain death, this lucky dog was one of the festival’s brightest stars.

Form More Information

Chinese dog meat festival to be biggest for years as organisers ‘put on show’ for tourists

An animal charity has warned a controversial Chinese dog meat festival could be the biggest in years as Covid restrictions are lifted and organisers try to put on a spectacle for tourists. Julia de Cadenet, founder of the NoToDogMeat, is appealing for donations to help volunteers care for dogs her organisation has rescued from the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, in Guangxi, China.