Pet cemeteries with a single square meter price that are close to the house price are indeed a gray area with secrets. Beijing Business Daily reporters have visited a number of pet cemeteries and found that the operator generally does not have the relevant qualifications for pet cemeteries, and the business scope only includes the sale of funeral supplies. Pet cemeteries with tens of thousands of yuan may also be "dissuaded" at any time due to the lack of security of land use and the uncertain service life. Not only that, the phenomenon of long-term freezing and shallow burial is difficult to eliminate, and it is difficult to ensure that harmless treatment is achieved. "The pet funeral industry is still a gray area, and relevant laws and regulations need to be improved." Industry insiders pointed out.
Incomplete qualifications Incomplete scope of business
"Petting cats" and "sucking dogs" have become a trend, and the status of pets and pet economy are also rising step by step. In addition to the familiar pet supply stores, pet hospitals and other formats, the pet funeral industry has gradually entered the public eye. Businesses engaged in pet funerals often promise to provide a "one-stop service," from body prayer, cleaning, cremation to burial.
During the investigation of a number of pet cemeteries located on the outskirts of Beijing, the Beijing Business Daily reporter found that these cemeteries generally have many problems such as lack of qualifications, inability to guarantee service life, and irregular harmless treatment.
A relevant webpage named Beijing Jingdeng Duai Trading Co., Ltd. shows: "Ningpet Fudi Pet Cemetery is the largest and only legal and reliable pet cemetery in Beijing approved by the Civil Affairs Bureau and the Land and Resources Bureau. When the Beijing Business Daily reporter asked Mr. Yu, the operator of the cemetery, for relevant qualifications, he showed his business license and a picture of the decision of the Yanqing District Civil Affairs Bureau to grant administrative licenses.
However, the pictures provided by Mr. Yu were too vague to verify the true contents of the two documents. For the problem that the pictures are not clear, Mr. Yu explained, "Because of the fear of misappropriation by peers, it is not possible to send high-definition pictures." Although the reporter repeatedly consulted Mr. Yu for the original qualification, he did not give it until the deadline.
It is worth noting that the Tianyancha App shows that the industrial and commercial information of Beijing Jingdeng Duai Trading Co., Ltd. shows that the business scope is "selling daily necessities and clothing". As for whether or not to hold a "harmless treatment" license, it has become a matter of unknown.
Incomplete qualifications seem to be a common problem in many private pet cemeteries. The staff of the Momofuku Pet Paradise Animal Burial Center in Changping District told reporters directly: "There is no qualification, there is no guarantee of how long it will be stored, and no one can guarantee it." ”
In the office area of the Momofuku Pet Paradise Animal Burial Center, the business license on the wall reads "Selling Animal Funeral Supplies."
"It is impossible for pet cemeteries to be qualified now" A pet industry insider said that most pet cemeteries on the market are agricultural, commercial, or wasteland that lacks jurisdiction, "so once it is investigated, the risk is very high."
Li Ang, a lawyer at Tianjin Bingjun Law Firm, also told reporters: "Pet cemeteries are currently a legislative gap, and it is difficult for merchants to register relevant business content in the Industrial and Commercial Bureau because they do not involve the industry." Funeral services and cemeteries are only for people at this stage, and pet funeral services are still a gray area. ”
Ten thousand yuan on a cemetery is close to the house price
Pet owners face the risk of "running away" from cemeteries even if they don't consider the potential risks of incomplete qualifications. The staff of the Parkford Pet Paradise Animal Burial Center stressed that "there is no qualification, and once the state acquires land, it needs to be moved unconditionally."
Even so, the price of buying a pet cemetery is not cheap. Beijing Business Daily reporter roughly calculated that the unit price of one square meter of pet cemetery is even close to the house price in Beijing.
According to a number of merchants selling pet cemeteries, pet burials mainly include tree burial, sea burial, storage and other methods. Among them, tree burial can often bury multiple pets under a tree, and the price ranges from 1000-3000 yuan. If you want to bury a pet alone and have a tombstone in the form of a "hexagonal pavilion", the price directly rises to 10,800 yuan.
Due to the small size of pet ashes or carcasses, a single pet cemetery typically covers an area ranging from one-quarter to one-half square meter in terms of one square meter. According to the unit price of 10,000 yuan, one square meter can reach 40,000 yuan, close to the house price in some parts of Beijing. Compared with the housing prices in Yanqing, Daxing and other suburbs where the cemetery is located, the price of pet cemeteries is even higher than the house price.
Even if the price is high, many consumers are still willing to pay for it. "Expensive is expensive, pets have accompanied me for more than ten years, as long as I can make it sleep, how much money I am willing to spend." Xiao Li, a pet owner, said. According to public data, China's pet consumer market will exceed 200 billion yuan in 2020, and 53.9% of people are willing to buy funeral services after the death of pets.
Unlike the past, once the pet dies, the owner will choose to bury it directly into the ground or even throw it in the trash. With the rejuvenation of Pet Owners in China and the change of pet concepts, the pet funeral industry is gradually being accepted by more pet owners. Although the popularity in the country is not high, in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the pet funeral industry has quietly risen.
Li Ang pointed out: "The relevant departments should strictly stipulate the price of pet cemeteries, the prices vary from place to place, and even the price per square meter of pet cemeteries in some first-tier cities is higher than the house price, which will also lead to some pet owners to have a comparison psychology." If pet cemeteries continue to develop in this way, there will be greater hidden dangers. ”
Do not deal with direct burial harmless awareness is weak
In the process of interviewing and investigating in the Beijing Business Daily reporter, it was found that the harmless treatment of pets is still a knowledge that requires popular science for pet owners. Staff at the "Yongning Cemetery" in Yanqing District revealed that in August this year, pet owners brought pets who had been dead for a year and had been frozen in the refrigerator for a year and another pet dog that had recently died to the cemetery for burial.
The above-mentioned staff revealed that no treatment was carried out on the two pets, and after customizing a wooden box for them, the whole body was buried shallow. "Most pet owners are buried with ashes, but a small number of them carry untreated corpses, and the cemetery can also receive them."
"If pets want to be buried whole, they must be buried at least 2 meters underground. If you just dig a pit normally and bury it, you will face risks. Insiders in the pet funeral industry explained: Most pet cemeteries are located in the mountains and rivers, and shallow burial of animals that have not been harmlessly treated will affect the surrounding water sources; animal carcasses may be turned out by other surrounding animals to eat, which may cause the spread of the source of the disease.
Hua Lin, Secretary-General of the Beijing Small Animal Protection Association, said: "The top priority in the harmless treatment of animals must be epidemic prevention, especially in the treatment of sick and dead animals and disease prevention. It is certainly not feasible to bury it without treatment or bury it at will. The association is working with relevant departments to develop relevant normative standards. ”
According to the "Beijing Municipal Animal Epidemic Prevention Regulations", after the death of animals, harmless treatment should be carried out in accordance with the regulations, and no unit or individual may dispose of it at will. Since January 1, 2017, Beijing has built a harmless collection and treatment system covering urban and rural animals and animal products, and sick and dead animals should be harmlessly treated. The objects of the animal harmless treatment system include livestock and poultry farms, slaughtering and processing plants, animal isolation farms, and pets raised by residents.
Specifically, animal owners can send or put harmless animal carcasses into collection temporary storage points, which are cleared and disposed of by sanitation operation companies, and the costs required are borne by public finances, and enterprises and citizens do not need to pay.
At the specific implementation level, pet owners will take the initiative to "discount" execution. Xiao Li, a pet owner, said: "I have learned that there are such free animal harmless treatment sites, but I have feelings for pets, and I would rather spend more money to find pet funeral services, and I am not willing to take pets for this process." ”
There is no guarantee of land use Laws and regulations need to be improved urgently
"The current pet cemetery is either commercial land or agricultural land. Commercial land has a certain period of use, and agricultural land is not allowed to be used for other purposes. Li Ang believes that once the pet cemetery is complained about or investigated by the relevant departments, it will be ordered to carry out land rectification, including restoring the original appearance of the land.
In fact, there have been cases of disputes over the use of pet cemeteries. The "net red" Angel Pet City cemetery located in Daxing District has terminated the lease contract with the legal person because the legal person did not pay the rent according to the contract. Many pet owners have to move the cemetery because they have just paid the cemetery fee, resulting in considerable property losses.
The Beijing Business Daily reporter saw in the notice at the cemetery site: "The current government needs to rectify the original Angel City land and require parents to relocate the pet cemetery." ”
The above-mentioned pet cemetery is now overgrown with only some funeral items. According to people familiar with the matter, the land is agricultural land and does not actually have the qualifications to open a cemetery. At present, fruit trees are planted around the cemetery, and opposite the cemetery is a greenhouse of watermelon, vegetable planting, seedlings and other contiguous greenhouses, covering an area of 40 acres.
The development of the pet economy has spawned the supervision and legislation of the pet funeral industry that needs to be improved urgently. Li Ang said: "For the pet cemetery land approval is still blank, we should speed up legislation and clarify the department to which it belongs; for pet funeral services, there should be corresponding judicial interpretations and laws and regulations to clarify the contract between the merchant and the consumer, so that the consumer's rights protection has a law to follow and a basis to follow." ”
For the qualification of pet cemeteries, Hua Lin told the Beijing Business Daily reporter: "At present, there is no special pet cemetery in civil affairs, if the establishment needs to strictly implement relevant regulations, pet cemetery is a part of urban and social development." ”
Beijing Business Daily reporter Zhao Shu commented on Lin Yuwei