SIGNS welcoming visitors to Newport still bear the name of the Chinese region where thousands of dogs are slaughtered every year for a food festival - despite ties being severed last year.

Last July, Newport City Council voted to cut ties with twin city Wuzhou, in the Guanxi region of China, following public pressure including a petition signed by nearly 40,000 people.

Wuzhou's neighbouring city in the region is Yulin, where every June visitors gather to mark the summer solstice by dining on thousand of dogs that have been caged and butchered.

South Wales Argus:

Signs welcoming people to Newport still bear links to the Chinese region where thousands of dogs are butchered every year at a summer festival. Picture: Wales News Service

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Councillors in Newport voted unanimously last year to sever ties with Guanxi over the "abhorrent" dog meat festival. But, despite then-council leader Cllr Debbie Wilcox pledging to "ensure that signage is removed", several 'Welcome to Newport' to signs still carry Wuzhou's name, along with other twins Heidenheim, in Germany; and Kutaisi, in Georgia.

With nine weeks to go before this year's Yulin Dog Meat Festival, critics of the practice have called on the council to follow through on its promise and remove the Guanxi city from its signs.

Wendy Higgins, of the Humane Society International UK, called the Yulin festival "the most infamous example of a brutal trade that sees millions of mainly stolen pet cats and dogs killed every year".

She said Newport council had "made the right decision" to cut ties with Guanxi, but said it was "disappointing" the signs had not been changed.

South Wales Argus:

Signs welcoming people to Newport still bear links to the Chinese region where thousands of dogs are butchered every year at a summer festival. Picture: Wales News Service

"We certainly hope the council will keep its promise before the first dogs and cats are killed for this year’s Yulin festival," she added.

Leader of Newport's Conservative group Cllr Matthew Evans, who first proposed a motion to end the city's links with Guanxi, said "it should have been a simple task to remove all references to them last year".

He added: "I'm sure the council could have just painted over it. I am sickened [the Yulin organisers] are even considering having another so called festival, particularly in light of the coronavirus epidemic; and I am embarrassed that the signage has not been removed."

A spokesman for Newport City Council said ties had been officially cut but they were still waiting for signs to be updated.

They said: "Newport City Council’s twinning with the province was dormant for a number of years but all ties were cut officially last summer.

"The signs that are still in place date back several years and the wording will be amended or removed when possible and appropriate."