Recent news on animal protection in China:
- Recently, a security guard and a training teacher of Shandong Vocational College of Art and Design abused a stray dog on campus. The video taken by a student revealed that one of the abusers had claimed to have “stew dog meat for dinner”. The leaked video drew great attention on the internet. On 22 March, the College made an apology statement and suspended the security guard as an initial punishment. Heavier punitive measures will be concluded after further investigation.
Editor’s note: The College’s follow-up was praisable, timely, and positive. In the apology statement, the College differentiated the involved security guard’s behaviour from the campus culture promoted by the College, and promised to take this incident as an opportunity to promote harmony between humanity and nature. Humanistic care is the most precious element in high education. Acquiring knowledge is necessary, but learning how to become a better person is far more essential. It is the college’s social responsibility to provide life lessons.
- On 26 March, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced on Weibo that 10 defendants including Wang Mou in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province poisoned dogs and sold poisoned dog meat, and the criminal incidental civil public interest litigation was publicly pronounced. Defendant A was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for the crimes of illegal trading and storage of dangerous substances, and the other nine were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from one year to six months to eight months for the crimes of producing and selling toxic or harmful food. At the same time, the court ordered them to pay ten times the compensation for the sale price and publicly apologized in the national media.
Editor’s note: Without the “Companion Animal Protection Law” or other laws that explicitly prohibit dog meat consumption, prosecutors rely on existing laws to punish the criminal act of poisoning and killing dogs and selling poisoned dog meat. Litigation, combined with warning education, apology and other forms of accountability, has a strong guiding significance.
WDA Regional Director of Mainland China
Sky Liu
29 March 2021