The frequent "cat abuse" incidents have brought the call for animal cruelty legislation back to the public eye again.
The Beijing News reporter noted that around 2009, some professional scholars proposed to promote the "Anti-Cruelty to Animals Law" and drafted an expert proposal.
Chang Jiwen, deputy director of the Resources and Environmental Policy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council (then director of the Social Law Research Office of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), who took the lead in drafting, told the Beijing News that the "prohibition of illegal consumption of cat and dog meat" clause in the draft proposal caused widespread and fierce debate in society. Chen Lijuan, deputy director of the Animal Protection Law Research Center of Northwest University of Political Science and Law, also said that because there are many ethnic groups and different customs in various places in China, it is difficult to legislate "one size fits all".
Since then, a number of npc deputies have repeatedly put forward bills calling for the formulation of relevant laws as soon as possible, but at the national legislative level, there has been no substantive progress. However, in some local regulations, there have been related attempts.
In the past, the "prohibition of illegal consumption of cat and dog meat" was controversial
The research on the Anti-Cruelty to Animals Legislation Project began in the summer of 2007 at the "Animal Welfare Seminar" hosted by the Law School of Shandong University. At the meeting, the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the British Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reached an agreement to promote the study of Animal Protection Law in China.
On December 21, 2008, the launching ceremony of the drafting of the Animal Protection Law (Draft Expert Recommendation) was held at Northwest University of Political Science and Law. On September 18, 2009, the Animal Protection Law (Expert Recommendation Draft) was promulgated.
Chang Jiwen pointed out in "Animal Protection Law and Anti-Cruelty Animal Law Expert Suggestions and Contend with All Walks of Life" that the scope of the draft proposal is too wide, and the operability under the existing national conditions is not strong, which is not conducive to animal protection.
At the end of 2009, the drafting group decided to draw up the Anti-Animal Cruelty Act (expert recommendation) on the basis of the previous work. "At that time, there were many phenomena of abusing cats and dogs and beating dogs in the whole country, which aroused the attention of public opinion." Chang Jiwen told the Beijing News reporter.
At the end of January 2010, part of the Anti-Cruelty to Animals Law (Draft Expert Recommendation) was promulgated, which was divided into nine chapters, which roughly included the prohibition of illegal consumption of cat and dog meat, and anti-abuse measures for wild animals, economic animals, pets and other animals.
Part of the Anti-Animal Cruelty Act (Draft Expert Opinion).
Among them, the provision prohibiting the illegal consumption of cat and dog meat has caused widespread and fierce debate in society. "The research team has encountered unprecedented difficulties in exposing online criticism and even personal attacks." Chang Jiwen told the Beijing News reporter, "At that time, it was stuck on a balance problem, and some people questioned, 'The problem of human welfare has not been solved, but the animal welfare has been solved?' ’”
Chang Jiwen revealed that in 2010, the research team submitted the full text of the draft to the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, but there was no result.
"Experts from all walks of life can write drafts of recommendations for their fields, but this is not actually part of the legislation." An Xiang, director of Beijing Dexiang Law Firm and author of the Compilation of China's Current Animal Protection Laws, told the Beijing News, "And the manuscript at that time was very immature in terms of system, logic and legal technology, and it was obviously impossible to be promoted as a blueprint." ”
According to the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China, the National People's Congress and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress have national legislative power. An Xiang explained, "Real legislation requires that the NPC set up legislative projects, form a NPC expert group, and then start the real legislative process, and then after deliberation, solicitation of opinions, and revision in all aspects, a law can really be passed and put into effect." ”
Status: National legislation has not yielded results, and local regulations have been tried
Since then, a number of npc deputies have put forward bills calling for legislation banning animal cruelty as soon as possible.
In 2011, Jing Yidan proposed the enactment of the "Anti-Animal Cruelty Law" at the two sessions of the National People's Congress; in 2015, Luo Shenglian, a deputy to the National People's Congress, proposed the enactment of the "Law on Preventing Animal Cruelty" and suggested that the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law" be amended as soon as possible before the legislation was enacted to include animal abuse in the scope of punishment; in 2016, Zheng Xiaohe, a deputy to the National People's Congress, called for the enactment of the "Animal Protection Law" to crack down on the illegal industrial chain of cats and dogs; in 2020, Zhu Lieyu, director of Guangdong Guoding Law Firm, and other npc deputies once again submitted relevant motions at the two sessions.
But there has been no substantial progress in legislation across the country. On September 11, 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs published a reply to the relevant bill on its official website: "Animal cruelty in social life is only a very small phenomenon, and a special law for this rare violation of morality is not necessary, and it can basically be solved by improving existing laws and regulations." ”
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs published a reply to the relevant bill on its official website
In this regard, Professor Chen Lijuan, deputy director of the Animal Protection Law Research Center of Northwest University of Political Science and Law, said that there are indeed some laws to refer to in the abuse of animals, such as the Law on Public Security Administration Penalties. "If you spread similar violent videos such as boiling water and scalding cats on the Internet, it is a violation of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law." If the animal has a owner, the abuser's behavior is to damage the owner's property and violate the relevant provisions of the property system. ”
The complex national situation also brings obstacles to the introduction of relevant laws. Chen Lijuan told the Beijing News reporter that because of the large number of ethnic groups in China and the different customs in various places, it is difficult to "one size fits all" to legislate, "Some places have dog meat festivals, which is anti-moral in the eyes of some people, but it is reasonable in the local area." ”
An Xiang believes that special laws should indeed be introduced, but the reason for the delay in entering the agenda is mainly that people have doubts about how the law can be implemented technically, such as how to protect animals and whether they will interfere with people's lives.
In An Xiang's view, the lack of public awareness may be the most important force hindering relevant legislation, "Some people think that animal cruelty is only related to animals, but in fact, it is not, it is directly related to people." An Xiang explained that not only is there a problem with the mentality of animal abusers, but watching the animal abuse process will also cause serious mental harm to adults and minors, and the abuser may turn from animals to humans.
Although national laws have not yet been enacted, some municipalities have already begun to try. The Qingdao Municipal Dog Management Regulations, adopted and implemented in 2016, stipulate that "it is forbidden to abandon, abuse and slaughter dogs." ”
In the suzhou dog management regulations newly implemented in 2018, suzhou clarified that the subject of "no abuse of dogs" is not limited to dog owners.
The "Changsha Dog Management Regulations" implemented on May 1, 2019 added "dogs shall not be abandoned or abused." If a dog is found abandoned, the public security organ will impose a fine of 1,000 yuan, revoke the dog breeding permit, and not allow the dog to be allowed to keep a dog within 5 years."
However, Chen Lijuan said that these regulations only take the management of dogs by the public security organs and the prevention of public hazards as the starting point, and treat dogs as human property to regulate people's behavior. It is not "anti-abuse" in essence, "in the animal welfare, anti-abuse level, local regulations are still relatively small." ”
Future: Clearly defined who should apply and who abuse should be
Both Chen Lijuan and An Xiang said it would be more feasible to push through anti-animal cruelty legislation from the local to the central government.
"In the future, it is very likely that local legislation will be implemented in some places with relatively developed economies and better social civilization development." An Xiang said that local legislation has limitations in punishment and cannot involve penalties such as restricting personal freedom, but it can establish some management models, introduce some mild penalties, and extend them to the whole country in the future.
The relevant laws must clearly define who they apply to. "China's future Animal Protection Law should be premised on the classification and management of animals." An Xiang said that different animals should take different protective measures.
In the National Inventory of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources (Draft for Comment) issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on April 8, 2020, dogs have been removed from the inventory of livestock and poultry. The explanation explains that dogs have been "specialized" from traditional domestic animals to companion animals, and are generally not treated as livestock and poultry in the world, and China should not be included in livestock and poultry management.
Explanation by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on the National Inventory of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources (Draft for Solicitation of Comments).
"The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has explicitly defined dogs as companion animals, and this classification and definition is the basis for the next step of the Animal Protection Law and the Anti-Cruelty to Animals Law." An Xiang said.
In addition, both Chang Jiwen and Chen Lijuan suggested that before the law is introduced, a consensus should be formed on "what is abuse".
Chen Lijuan said that it is necessary to concretize common abuse actions and make clear provisions, such as dragging, kicking, dragging, hitting, and scalding, "so that everyone knows what behavior is illegal, so as not to make differences in the process of law enforcement." ”
In Chang Jiwen's view, the state has made progress in improving laws related to animal protection. "When the Wildlife Protection Law was revised in 2016, we wrote 'no cruelty to wild animals', and in shenzhen's relevant local regulations, cats and dogs were also clearly classified as edible animals."
Beijing News trainee reporter Peng Chong
Edited by Liu Qian
Proofread by Li Shihui