BEVERLY HILLS—“They were doing something so crazy I couldn’t believe it,” Marc Ching told an audience of more than a hundred animal rights activists crammed into a small, Beverly Hills living room May 7. “All life deserves a chance.”

Ching, founder and CEO of The Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, quickly assembled Sunday’s gathering in an attempt to stop the infamous Yulin Dog Meat Festival, which takes place annually in both Yulin and Guangxi, China.

“This event is about unification, and getting people involved who want to end it,” Marc said from the makeshift dais. “To come to any kind of solution, there has to be unity.”

The 10-day Yulin festival (officially known as the ‘Lychee and Dog Meat Festival’), which began in 2009, is celebrated on the summer solstice in China where attendees believe that eating dog meat can stave off the sweltering summer heat. During its peak, more than 10,000 dogs were killed and eaten, although in recent years that number has dwindled to around a thousand.

Ching has covertly attended the festival several times in the past, posing as a meat buyer in order to rescue the dogs, who are typically tortured for hours before finally being killed. He plans to return again this year to continue to expose the cruelty of the festival, despite having had his life threatened on multiple occasions.

“I go to Asia and document my own struggle,” Marc said to the crowd, his voice quavering. “I just hope it connects others to the suffering these animals face.”

Nineties television star Shannen Doherty, who was in attendance at the event, pledged to join Ching in Yulin this June. “It’s important to have boots on the ground,” Doherty said, attributing her newfound compassion to her recent fight with cancer. “I’m not content to talk about it. You have to take action.”

Legislatively, the group hopes to gain political support in the congress for H.R. 1406, the “Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2017.” Introduced by congressman Alcee Hastings (D-Florida), the bill would amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the trade and consumption of dog and cat meat in the United States, subjecting violators to fines and possible imprisonment.

“Animal rights are important to so many of us,” Ching said. “We have to bridge the gap between us to do something good and positive. We have to save these dogs.”