Source: Xinhua News Agency
Recently, a number of online shopping platforms have quietly emerged pet live blind boxes, with prices ranging from more than a dozen yuan to thousands of yuan. Under the banner of the blind box, the seller claimed that "the specified varieties are not accepted, the blind box is issued and does not accept returns and bad reviews, and the comments are not allowed to be posted."
At present, the market heat of blind boxes is not reduced. The China Consumer Association recently issued a consumer tip, operators sell blind boxes as a norm, consumers do not buy blind boxes blind. What are the risks of live blind boxes for pets that follow the trend? The reporter learned from multiple investigations that due to multiple risks such as lack of inspection and quarantine and even endangering personal safety, it is urgent to strengthen supervision.
The safety of the pet live blind box is worrying
The reporter searched for the keywords "blind box" and "live body" on an online shopping platform, and there were many commodity links of "turtle blind box" and "hamster blind box". Entering the keywords "pet" and "live" on another online shopping platform is not only sold by common cats, dogs, birds and other animals, but also rats, scorpions, spiders, lizards, etc. Judging from consumer evaluations, it was bought as a pet.
Blind boxes, as the name suggests, are placed in the same box with different goods, but there is a certain probability that they can draw their favorite goods. It is this kind of marketing strategy similar to the lottery that easily stimulates consumers' desire to buy, and has become one of the marketing methods that attract young people to consume.
Compared with other blind box products, pet live blind boxes have significant health and safety risks. Some consumers said, "The moment the lid is lifted, surprise and shock are possible."
The reporter found in an online shop selling "turtle blind boxes" that there were 9 kinds of live turtles at different prices from 9.99 yuan to 882 yuan. When the reporter asked what varieties were in the various blind boxes of the store, the store said that it would issue different varieties according to different price points, and refused to disclose the specific varieties. For the animal quarantine certificate, the store said, "The turtles are all bred by themselves, and they have not applied for any documents."
In a shop called "Orange Ice", the reporter incarnated as a consumer and gave the quarantine certificate of the main Asian rainforest scorpion and blue mint horned frog to the shop owner, the owner said "there is no such thing", and said that "due to the particularity of the living body, the live body is shipped, no return and no replacement" and "there is no life during the breeding period".
What is even more frightening is that the "exotic pets" of non-domestic animals - such as reptiles, birds of prey, wild beasts, such as items that are difficult to find in physical stores, can be easily bought online, which is shocking. In recent years, Changsha Customs has repeatedly intercepted "barbaric harvest ants" in inbound parcels. Changsha Customs reminds that the illegal import of live insects, especially alien species that are not yet distributed in China, has great quarantine risks and biological safety hazards, and the customs department will deal with them according to law.
There are ambiguities in transportation
Pet live blind boxes are mostly delivered by courier. Due to the lack of inspection and quarantine, there is a possibility of disease transmission in such blind boxes during transportation.
The reporter contacted a "foreign pet" seller in a chat group. When the reporter asked for the animal quarantine certificate that must be provided for the consignment of lizards and other pets, the seller said that lizards, spiders, etc. are expressed in the box, do not have contact with the human body, neither need to be vaccinated, nor do they need any certificate.
Some online pet shop sellers told reporters that due to the impact of the epidemic, some areas stipulate that live pets cannot be checked in passenger cars, while some pet shop owners exploit loopholes by "walking relationships". A seller named "Honest Management of Formal Transactions" said that many local pet consignment businesses have stopped, but he "has a fleet of people" and can still carry out live pet consignment. If needed, ship the same day and arrive the next day in neighboring provinces.
A courier brother told reporters that for the delivery of live animals, large express delivery companies generally do not accept, mainly considering that they cannot assess the value of animals, and it is easy to fall into compensation disputes. "In this kind of weather now, it is normal for small animals to starve to death, freeze to death, and be squeezed to death by other goods, and generally throw them away on the spot when they die, and the compensation is also a matter of ridicule." He said that due to strong demand, many courier companies will still take orders.
In this regard, Ding Hongtao, head of the legal affairs department of the China Express Delivery Association, said that the 1990 Postal Law Implementation Rules once prohibited the mailing of live animals, but this provision has been covered by the Wildlife Protection Law in practice, that is, "it is forbidden to send protected wild animals and animals with highly toxic and infectious diseases", not all live animals are prohibited from being delivered.
He stressed that there is no clear standard for the delivery of live animals other than wild animals. As the internal items of the mail, the security guarantee system of delivery channels such as receiving and sending inspection, real-name receiving and mailing, and passing through machine security inspection is applied as a whole. "In practice, if it is believed that a certain type of animal may be a prohibited article, it should be investigated and collected according to law, including the use of inspection and quarantine and other methods." He said.
Online shopping for special goods should have a "degree"
In recent years, there have been cases of consumers shopping online about silver ring snakes being bitten and causing brain death. Can such special goods such as pets that may endanger personal safety be sold on the Internet at will?
In this regard, Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said that the scope of online shopping products must have a "degree", exceeding the prescribed "degree", which touches the high-voltage line of the law. The E-commerce Law and the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law both stipulate that business operators are not allowed to sell prohibited products, and e-commerce platforms must bear the main responsibility, and once problems are found, they must order merchants to remove them from the shelves. Relevant regulatory departments may carry out administrative punishments in accordance with laws and regulations, causing serious social consequences, and may transfer them to the public security organs for criminal responsibility.
Chen Yinjiang said that the popular pet live blind box is an irrational consumption. Some teenagers' self-control and self-control are not fully mature, and they are easily misled or even deceived by businesses, which needs to attract the attention of the whole society. In addition, the consumption of blind boxes is suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know, and the supervision of commodity types and quality is in a vague area, which provides a channel for the sale of inferior goods and even illegal and prohibited items.