Bid to ban eating cats and dogs goes down the wrong way in China
If you still think China is the land of everything edible, a newly proposed animal protection law is trying to officially put an end to eating dog and cat meat. However, Chinese people have been having difficulties accepting a law that protects animals, therefore the new law has been more palatably named the “Anti-Animal Abuse Law” instead.
Professor Chang Jiwen from the Animal Protection Law Project tells Chongqing Everything News that the organization spent four months gathering people's responses to the new law and that most of the 300 emails and 400 phone calls echoed one concept: "Chinese cannot accept the concept of 'animal protection law' and 'animal welfare.' People's welfare must be insured before animals'," reports Professor Chang Jiwen.
The new “Anti-Animal Abuse Law,” would forbid any form of animal abuse, including killing them and eating their meat. The law also specifically says that it is illegal to buy, sell or eat dog and cat meat. Individuals who break this law will be fined RMB 5,000 and face up to 15 days in jail while danweis and organizations will be fined between RMB 10,000 and RMB 500,000.
The debate
“Forbidding people from eating dogs and cats will not affect much of their lives, because there is plenty of other meat to be consumed,” says Professor Chang. “Besides,” he adds, “it's only a minority of people who eat dogs and cats.” However, many of the voices in Chinese cyberspace appear to be not only against the “Anti-Animal Abuse Law,” but also slightly angry at the concept behind it in general.
A netizen from Tianjin says, “Let the lawmakers go eat bullets. Are we Chinese people even lower than dogs and cats?”
La Rou Wei Gou from Xu Zhou adds, “Why isn't there a law to protect vegetables also? Rice eaters should be fined RMB 5,000 and go to jail for 15 days.”
An Internet user from Guangzhou comments on 163.com, “In this case chicken, duck, pork and beef should all be banned too, we should all go vegetarian.”
Another netizen from Guangxi questions, “In a society where people eat people, isn't it funny to talk about whether dogs and cats can be eaten?”
Professor Chang says the title “Anti-Animal Abuse Law” is temporary and will be changed to a more appropriate title when people can digest the concept of “animal protection” a bit better. With reactions like these online though, seems like the renaming is still a bit off.
