Late June marked the start of the ninth annual Yulin dog-eating festival, a 10-day event held in Yulin, Guangxi, China, during the summer solstice in which festivalgoers eat dog meat and lychees.

This “festival” began in China over 400 years ago, but heavy marketing began less than a decade ago, in 2009, by dog-meat traders simply looking to boost business. According to folklore, eating dog meat during the hottest weeks of the year brings luck and health, heightens men’s sexual stamina, cools body temperature, and wards off diseases.

In China, millions of dogs are sold, bought, and even stolen—straight from their loving families—and transported in cramped conditions without food or water to markets each year. They’re hanged, burned, skinned, boiled, torched, dismembered, electrocuted, and beaten. An estimated 10,000 dogs are consumed at the Yulin festival alone. To make matters worse, there’s a belief by some that these animals should intentionally be tortured while on display on the streets, as this creates fear and stress among the other, on looking animals. The adrenaline running through their blood supposedly makes the meat more “tender and better tasting ,” according to beliefs.

There is no law banning the killing of dogs and cats in China. Indeed, PETA Asia went undercover and revealed the link between the torture and killing of dogs in China and items that are likely sold in the U.S. PETA entities worldwide have documented that “most of the world’s leather comes from China, where there are no penalties for abusing animals killed for their skins.”

In a shocking PETA Asia exposé , eyewitnesses found that dogs at slaughterhouses were hauled out of a holding area with metal pincers and hit over the head with wooden clubs. As the video footage that they captured shows, many don’t die instantly—they scream, and some still struggle to breathe even after their throats have been slit and as their skin is being torn off.

PETA Asia’s investigation also revealed that dog skin was made into women’s dress gloves, men’s work gloves, and other items that are exported from China and sold all around the world. Perhaps most ironically, some of the skins are even made into toys for companion animals! When you handle one of these items, you simply can’t tell the difference between leather from a dog and that from the other animals who suffer in the leather industry.

Another gruesome practice of cruelty to dogs occurs in Bali. Animals Australia uncovered that many tourists there who order chicken end up actually eating dog meat. It’s legal to eat dog meat in Indonesia, and it’s common for restaurant owners to lie about what kind of meat tourists are consuming. Seven times as many dogs are horrifically killed in the Indonesian dog-meat trade as are killed in the dog-eating festival in China.

As a consumer, the best way to help the dogs and other animals suffering in China, Indonesia, and elsewhere is not only to maintain a vegan diet but also to stop buying leather. With today’s technology, we have access to luxurious faux leathers that are more durable and less expensive than the real thing .

Please pledge to be leather-free and make humane decisions. Be a role model, and get loud!

Deborah DiMare is the founder of the ultra-luxury vegan interior-design firm DiMare Design and www.DiMareDesign.com, an online accredited educational course and cruelty-free licensing company that builds awareness and teaches individuals and companies around the world about vegan, cruelty-free materials and alternatives. She’s a leader in vegan and wellness design as well as a PETA advocate. She’s passionate about animal rights, has been a featured designer on TLC, and has appeared on The Today Show. Deborah lectures and writes articles on humane and wellness design, and she can be contacted at [email protected].