China to Recognise Dogs as Pets Instead of Food
New guidelines by China’s agriculture ministry reclassify dogs from “livestock” to “pets”, and could signal an end for dog meat consumption in the country.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Shenzhen recently became the first city in China to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat. A second city, Zhuhai, followed suit with a similar ban just a few weeks later. Now, the entire dog meat trade in China faces a potential nationwide ban as new guidelines by China’s agriculture minister move to recognise dogs as ‘pets’ rather than food.
The draft policy seeks to determine which animals constitute wildlife or livestock. If deemed wildlife, the species will be forbidden from human consumption under China’s new ban on wildlife consumption. Under the proposed guidelines, dogs have now been reclassified from “livestock” to “pets”.
“As far as dogs are concerned, along with the progress of human civilisation and the public concern and love for animal protection, dogs have been ‘specialised’ to become companion animals, and internationally are not considered to be livestock, and they will not be regulated as livestock in China,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a notice, as reported by Reuters.
Whilst the guidelines now enter a public comment period until May 8, the promising developments so far have been welcomed by campaigners. The policy could be a “game changer for animal welfare in China”, according to Wendy Higgins of Humane Society International (HSI).
“That signals a major shift, recognising that most people in China don’t eat dogs and cats and want an end to the theft of their companion animals for a meat trade that only a small percentage of the population indulge in,” Higgins explained.
HSI estimates that 30 million dogs are killed for their meat across Asia every year, with ten million of those in China.
“Not only does it cause enormous animal suffering, but it is also almost entirely fuelled by crime and, perhaps most significantly right now, poses an undeniable human health threat with the risk of diseases such as rabies and cholera,” she added.
To learn more about COVID-19, the wildlife trade, and the dog meat trade in China, listen to our latest podcast episode: A Conversation with Pei Su of ACTAsia.
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