After many, many years of eating dog and cat meat, China has finally decided to end their practice and remove the animals from the menu.
China has launched their first draft proposal that will protect animlas against the ancient practice of animals being made into delicacies in China.The draft consists of nine chapters which covers major regulations such as animal medical treatment, transportation, and butchery regulations.
The Animal Rights Protection draft is proposing that those who are caught eating dor or cat meat will be jailed for 15 days and will be fined up to 5,000 yuan (730 USD).
If this becomes a law, any unit found in violation of the new rules will have to face fines of between 10,000 yuan (1,464 USD) to 500,000 yuan (73,239 USD).
This plan aims to protect the animals from misuse or harm and defines maltreatment as hurting or killing the animals in a cruel manner.
“It won’t impact people’s lives because only a few people eat the meat of dogs and cats,” said Chang Jiwen, a principal author of the draft.
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The anti animal cruelty law is an “expert advisory draft” from China Academy of Social Science and Law, and must be reviewed by the legislative body. How much of it will become legislative propposal remains to be seen.
Also, it does not ban dog/cat meat consumption, only regulation for cruelty and sanitation. The academy did consider regional culture and tradition when drafting this proposal.
BTW, if some Hindus think cows are God, should we not eat beef? Dog and cat are considered food animal in many culture around the world. Rabbit is pet in our society, yet we eat rabbits. If intelligence is the criteria pigs are smarter than cat, but pork chops are okay?
Certainly eliminating cruelty to animals is a good thing. I personally am very fond of animals like dogs and cats and wouldn’t consider eating them. It seems really barbarian to me that people would eat dogs. However, I realize that others might think the things I do are also barbaric, like eating bacon.
Yes, I think pigs are intelligent. But my dog likes pork. My dog is a carnivore (or an omnivore). She eats anything. Creatures need to eat to live. Perhaps respect and care for the living is a good starting point before we all become vegetarians.
As China is becomes more involved in world politics it will need to review its customs and rituals and determine a balance between its own culture and the rest of the world.