SHANGHAI: A man in Chongqing allegedly obtained puppies by posing as a pet adopter, then abused and even killed some of them.
Meanwhile, Chutou, a celebrity border collie with more than a million online followers, was stolen from his owner’s farm in central Henan, sold to a dog-meat dealer for 180 yuan (US$25) and slaughtered.
The two recent cases, mere weeks apart, have triggered an outpouring of public anger.
In Chongqing, more than 100 people protested outside the suspect’s home earlier in June, while the Chutou case in May became a rallying point on social media for pet owners demanding greater protections.
Yet the calls for justice have come up against a familiar obstacle.
Despite years of debate, repeated legislative proposals and a rapidly growing pet-owning population, China still has no dedicated national law against animal cruelty.
“China is the only major country in the world that does not have an anti (animal)-cruelty law,” Deborah Cao, a professor at Griffith University who has written extensively on Chinese animal law, told CNA.
The reason, analysts said, has less to do with public sentiment – which has shifted markedly in favour of legislation – than with competing economic interests and bureaucratic caution.
Yet some experts believe the scale of the public reaction – from rare public protests to online mobilisation – could increase pressure on authorities to revisit the issue.
“Animal cruelty is not a trivial matter – it’s a matter of social stability, political stability, even regime stability,” said Peter Li, a professor of East Asian politics, animal policy and law in China at the University of Houston-Downtown.
PETS AS PROPERTY
China does have laws that protect certain categories of animals.
The Wildlife Protection Law covers protected wild species, while the Animal Husbandry Law regulates livestock production.
But when it comes to household pets, the picture is strikingly different. There is no national law that specifically criminalises cruelty to a companion animal kept as a pet.