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A woman pushes her dogs in a pram at the Shanghai International Pet Expo in Shanghai. Photo: AFP
People & CultureSocial Welfare

China: call to protect pets from slaughter during coronavirus lockdowns after string of horrific incidents saw cats and dogs killed

  • Since the pandemic outbreak pets belonging to Covid-19 patients and close contacts have been forcefully killed by local governments
  • A member of the National People’s Congress says China has legions of pets but a lack of regulations protecting them during the pandemic
China society
Alice Yan
Alice Yanin Shanghai
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A delegate at China’s top political advisory body has urged the authorities to ensure appropriate and “harmless treatment” of companion pets during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chen Wei, a member of the National People’s Congress, said China has legions of pet animals, but due to the lack of regulations on how to deal with them when a coronavirus outbreak happens, many social problems emerge, news portal The Paper reported.

Over the past two years, the country saw a slew of incidents in which pets belonging to Covid-19 patients or their close contacts were forcefully killed by local governments as part of their strict virus prevention measures.

Apology after officials beat pet dog to death with iron bar

Statistics show that by 2019, more than 60 million people across the mainland had pet cats or dogs, the report said.

“Local governments should promulgate effective and humane quarantine regulations for pets,” said Chen, who is the vice-president of Quzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Hospital in Zhejiang, eastern China.

“These rules will not only be a part of the comprehensive epidemic prevention campaign, but also will demonstrate the authorities’ humanistic care for local residents and the respect for every single life.”

A Chinese man walking dogs around the Houhai Lake area of Beijing. Photo: AFP

She said the current Animal Epidemic Prevention Law and Law on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases both stipulate that wild animals and captive birds and livestock should be slaughtered during an epidemic. The laws do not target companion animals like cats and dogs, said Chen.

In November last year the government of Shangrao, Jiangxi province, eastern China, triggered a backlash after officials were exposed for beating a pet dog to death with an iron rod in its owner’s home while the person was taken away to a hotel for quarantine. The killing happened after the officials repeatedly assured the dog owner that they would not slaughter the pet.

Following the Shangrao blunder, many animal welfare organisations called on the authorities to set up formal rules for pet quarantine.

A couple wearing face masks pets a cat in a cat cafe in Beijing. Photo: AFP

“We shouldn’t harm pet animals in the name of preventing the epidemic,” said the Beijing-based China Small Animal Protection Association.

Besides quarantine rules for pet animals, Chen proposed strengthening the punishment for inhumane actions towards pets and to improve officials’ epidemic prevention knowledge in order to “avoid tragedies from happening again”.

“During the epidemic period, we should help each other. What’s more, we should care for all life forms on Earth and secure the survival rights of wild animals and companion animals, so as to maintain harmony between humans and nature,” she said.

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