In response to the coronavirus pandemic, China is now going to reclassify dogs as pets instead of livestock. The new law can help change the Chinese society's view on dog meat and it could end cruel dog meat festivals where 10 million dogs are slaughtered to be eaten.
Dogs are considered as a delicacy in some regions in China, and the current classification of dogs as livestock allows them to be bred as food, to provide milk, fur, and medicine. But all of them that could change as the coronavirus pandemic has called for an end to the trade in dog meat. There are already cities in the country that have taken the law into their own hands.
It is believed that COVID-19 started due to bat meat, and now Chinese officials are asking to stop the consumption of animal meat that is not meant to be eaten such as dog, cat, rat and bat meat.
China will stop eating dogs
The city of Shenzhen became the first to prohibit the consumption and production of dog and cat meat. The city passed its own law that went further than the Chinese government's temporary closure of wet markets.
At Chinese wet markets, live animals are bought and sold for consumption and processing for traditional medicines and they are sometimes slaughtered in front of customers to ensure their freshness. There are concerns about sanitation, wild meat diets and the vast ranges of species that are in close quarters in wet markets, these concerns have been raised by scientists years before the pandemic.
The Chinese Agriculture Ministry has now launched a public consultation that could see dogs and cats struck off the menu of restaurants, shops and other establishments for good. The ministry also listed animals that can be traded for meat including cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, camel and oxen. However, missing from the list of acceptable meat for human consumption are cats, dogs, bats, and other wild animals.
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Dogs are now classified as companion animals
According to an animal welfare advocate. The new law will be introduced on May 8 and the support from the government across China could be a game-changer as it could help elevate the roles of dogs in Chinese society.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in China conceded that dog meat remains a delicacy in some regions, however, a notice stated that dogs would no longer be considered as livestock. The Ministry of Agriculture said that due to the progress of human civilization and the public concern and love for animal protection, dogs have been classified as companion animals and internationally, dogs are not considered to be livestock and that they will not be regulated as livestock in China.
The draft guidelines listed 18 traditional livestock species that are acceptable to the national government. However, the notice referred to 13 special species that would also be exempt from wild animal trading restrictions including alpaca, reindeer, ostriches, pheasants, and foxes.
A spokeswoman for the animal welfare charity Humane Society International, Wendy Higgins, stated that the latest draft document could signal a critically important shift in China's desire to see an end to the dog and cat meat trade.
The dog and cat meat ban of Shenzhen is encouraging as this is the first time that the national government in China has explained why dogs are excluded from the livestock list and stating that they are companion animals and that they are not for consumption, Higgins added.
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