THE self-styled Spartan warrior behind a North-East private security firm is urging people to speak out against a Chinese festival after thousands of animals were slaughtered for their meat.

Francis Jones, of Darlington’s Sparta Security, said he was disgusted to see that about 10,000 dogs and cats are likely to be slaughtered at this year’s Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, in south-west China.

The festival got underway on Sunday to mark the summer solstice, despite uproar from animal rights activists across the globe.

Activists say the killing is cruel and celebrities, including British comedian Ricky Gervais and Simon Cowell, have spoken out on Twitter using the hashtag #StopYuLin2015.

As an animal lover and born-again Christian, Mr Jones is urging people to speak out and sign petitions against the festival.

“There are dogs like my Max getting butchered to death and I wanted to do something about it,” he said.

“I want to get people singing the petitions and boycott China. There are more people like me who hate it and it makes me sad.

“Simon Cowell gave me confidence and inspiration to speak out, although he is a public figure on a large scale, and I am on a small scale.”

To sign the petition search ‘stop the Yulin dog met eating festival’ on change.org