With the outbreak of the epidemic in Wuhan, Chinese people once again realized the significance of epidemic prevention. On January 26, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China and the State Forestry and Grassland administration decided to prohibit wildlife trade from the date of announcement to the period when the epidemic was lifted. However, the Chinese people's deep-rooted bad habit of eating wild animals is easy to revive. It’s necessary to incorporate public health into the guiding ideology of the Wildlife Protection Law. It is suggested that the current ban should be permanent. Relevant laws should be improved and strictly implemented, so as to shape the personality with the system.
Inevitably, the same as the SARS in 2003, the disaster of wild animals once again affected companion animals (dogs and cats). Due to the closure of the game market, dogs and cats have become substitutes for the game. At the same time, in the name of epidemic prevention, local governments and communities killed stray cats and dogs, and pet owners abandoned and killed pets. In particular, at present, some people use the epidemic to incite abandonment and killing, increase the number of stray animals. These problems are not conducive to epidemic prevention. And it will bring greater risks to public health.
In the sense of strict epidemic prevention, wild animals and companion animals are inedible because slaughter and quarantine regulations cannot be formulated. Companion animals (dogs and cats) do not belong to the scope of "the Ministry of agriculture has not yet issued quarantine regulations, except for those unable to issue quarantine certificates" in the notice issued by China Food and Drug Administration. The reply letter on permission and supervision of dog slaughtering ([2015] No. 25) issued by the Food Safety Commission of the State Council clearly stated the reasons why the state could not formulate the dog slaughtering regulations:
1. At present, the World Organization for animal health and many countries have no relevant regulations or requirements for dog slaughtering and quarantine.
2. There is no specific breed of meat dogs in China. The dogs sold on the market are mainly raised by individuals and have complex sources, and they illegal stole dogs. There is a great potential risk in eating dog meat.
3. Dog slaughtering and eating involve animal welfare and other issues, which are widely concerned at home and abroad. Once handled improperly, it will have negative effects.
It can be seen that the permitted dog slaughtering and management behaviors are obviously not in line with the legislative purposes of the Chinese Law on Animal Epidemic Prevention and the Food Safety Law. In recent decades, a huge industry chain of illegally stealing, poisoning and killing cat and dog has occurred in China. Therefore, casualties are frequently reported. Most of the dog meat and cat meat eaten in different places, they are stolen and poisoned. Not only is there no slaughtering quarantine, but also the original quarantine requirements of every dog have one certificate issued by the Ministry of agriculture that has not been met.
Moreover, China is still the second largest country of rabies. In 2009, the Ministry of Health issued the current situation of rabies control in China, which has realized that measures such as killing dogs can only temporarily control the rabies epidemic to a certain extent, and there is no long-term mechanism for rabies control in China. It is because of the backwardness of several least developed countries in African and China that the WHO revised the deadline to achieve the global goal of basically eliminating rabies in 2015: to achieve zero death of human rabies by 2030 (rather than in 2020) (quoted from Yan Jiaxin). Latin American countries have announced the basic goal in 2010, and many Asian developing countries, such as India, have promised to achieve the goal on time. At present, the whole world is waiting for the Chinese government’s response.
In view of the seriousness of the above problems, China urgently needs to establish a comprehensive and long-term legal mechanism for animal epidemic prevention, and solve the epidemic prevention problems of wild animals, farm animals, and companion animals. Here are two specific suggestions:
1. Revise the Wildlife Protection Law, forbid breeding and all wildlife Trading
No matter from the point of ecological balance or epidemic prevention, it is proper and reasonable to prohibit all wildlife trade, and the law should be amended as soon as possible. It is suggested that the legislative purpose, scope of application and basic principles of the wildlife protection law be adjusted, and the public health and safety issues are included in the legislative guiding ideology, with equal emphasis on the concept of maintaining ecological balance. In order to carry out this idea, it is suggested to prohibit all artificial breeding of wild animals other than for the purpose of species protection, and all hunting, utilization, and trading of wild animals for the purpose of food, medicine, fur acquisition, and craft production.
2. Article 29 of the implementation measures on the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall be abolished, and the trading of dogs and cats other than for the purpose of partners shall be prohibited.
In terms of rabies prevention, it is suggested to abolish Article 29 of the implementation measures on the prevention and control of infectious diseases. In addition to the provisions of Infectious Diseases Prevention Law on the elimination of wild dogs, this article adds the provisions on the killing of wild dogs, which is suspected of violating the principle of power and law. We should be in line with the international standards as soon as possible, strictly implement the compulsory epidemic prevention system, establish a homeless animal shelter, and change China's infamous status in the field of global rabies control (quoted from Yan Jiaxin).
At the same time, it is strongly recommended to recognize the legal status of "non-food raw materials" of companion animals, strictly implement the Chinese Law on animal epidemic prevention and the Food Safety Law, ban cat and dog meat restaurants around the China, and investigate and deal with all kinds of places for breeding, purchasing, transporting, slaughtering and selling companion animals for food purposes.
Initiate units:
Institute of environmental resources law of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Animal protection law research center of Northwest University of political science and law
Social law research center, School of law and politics, Zhejiang science and technology University
Law department, Beijing Union University
Anti-epidemic working group, China Biodiversity Conservation, and Green Development Foundation
Capital Animal Welfare Association
Cosigner:
Hebei Buddhist Charity Foundation
Xiangtan green leaf environmental protection volunteer association
South China Environmental rapid reaction project center
Loudi environmental protection volunteer association
Putian Animal Protection Association
Wenzhou happiness station social work center
Love stray animal protection center
Zhejiang baojiande rescue center
Jinchuan stray animal protection association, Jinchang City, Gansu Province
Guangdong Culture Promotion and exchange, culture and Sports Development Center
Cultural Tourism and Public Welfare Promotion Association of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Promotion Center
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(Photo source: Internet)
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/11154.html
By / Li Xue