On April 27, 2020, volunteers from all over the country who were concerned about "anti-animal cruelty legislation" co-sponsored a joint signature petition calling for legislation. China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF)'s Color Earth Division and Endangered Species Special Fund quickly responded to joining the petition.

The CBCGDF Biological and Scientific Ethics (BASE) Working Committee supports the above two departments to actively participate in the work of this initiative and contribute their own efforts. At the same time, it is recommended that the CBCGDF Policy Research Department, Legal Services Department and other departments should pay attention to, participate in and coordinate with this work.

I. The CBCGDF Biological and Scientific Ethics Working Committee supports the staff of the Color Earth Division and the Endangered Species Special Fund and other teams to become members of this nationwide ongoing legislative initiative. Encourage the team involved in this work to build a more colorful and better fundraising method and channel, first through the Tencent Charity Platform's "Colorful Earth Favorite Environmentalists" project, with a specially initiated independently calculated fund raising the "donate together" way to raise the cost of necessary work. To achieve the advocacy goal, considerable funds are needed, years of hard work are required, and the cooperation of all parties is required. We agree that the funds raised are mainly used for the expenses of full-time staff, legal team service fees, policy research team service fees, communication team service fees, administrative finance team service fees and other expenses in the process of advancing the legislative work. As a nationwide public fundraising foundation, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) must carry out very strict supervision and control during the use of funds, and requires the execution team to publicize the various outputs brought by the use of funds in a timely and transparent manner. Everyone is welcome to supervise together to help achieve more reasonable and transparent.

II. After investigation and research on the relevant background, the CBCGDF Biological and Scientific Ethics Working Committee found that the introduction of the "Anti-Animal Cruelty Law" is necessary and important and meets the needs of the times. Therefore, it requires continuous efforts by everyone, and work hard at all times to strive to be drafted and approved as soon as possible. According to the general rules and procedures of our country ’s legislation, the process of a law from intention to the establishment and implementation of the National People ’s Congress is relatively long, and it is difficult to accurately predict when to achieve the desired goals. It is recommended that each team participating in the advocacy project make full use of all possible time, strive for all available strength, create all possible opportunities, and fully promote the legislative process. To this end, we will urge the teams to work harder and support the "Colorful Earth Guardian" public account to become the main media platform for the dynamic progress of the whole process of the project and the outcomes produced.

III. The “Anti-Animal Cruelty Law” covers all animal welfare guarantees, including wild animals that survive in the wild, domestic animals that are domesticated for reproduction and entertainment, domestic animals that are raised to provide meat for humans, and companion animals such as cats and dogs, etc. How to incorporate all kinds of complex animal categories into the "Anti-Animal Cruelty Law" system requires that the people involved in the project have a wide enough vision, a tolerant mind, a forward-thinking idea, and enough experience to make this possible law is effective and timely.

IV. The public has spontaneously promoted legislative advocacy, with limited mature precedents. The CBCGDF Biological and Scientific Ethics Working Committee understands that before this, there has been a public voice about “anti-animal cruelty legislation” for many years, and many legal experts and volunteers have put a lot of energy and effort into this. In the course of the follow-up work, how to make more people's opinions become legal consensus, how to let more experts participate effectively, and how to continue the previous experience, all test the wisdom of the work team. We have considered whether it is possible to adopt a step-by-step approach to gradually achieve the goal of legislation. For example, assist individual regions with mature conditions across the country to conduct regional "legislation" in advance from local regulations and departmental regulations; Or in conjunction with the timing of the revision of the "Wild Animals Protection Law" and other relevant laws, some additional provisions related to anti-animal cruelty were added, and then the legislation of the national anti-animal cruelty law was gradually advanced. Fortunate to participate in this cause, no matter what the final result is, we are willing to support everyone, dedicate ourselves, do everything, and unite all the forces that can participate.

V. The CBCGDF Biological and Scientific Ethics Working Committee looks forward to the establishment and implementation of the "Anti-Animal Cruelty Law" as soon as possible, but it is well understood that it may require long efforts and advocacy. We understand that the working team involved in this legislative advocacy has now carried out a preliminary breakdown of the business, including the Legislative Promotion Group, Fundraising Communication Group, Administrative and Financial Collaboration Group, and Volunteer Service Group. It is hoped this team can ensure the daily connection and operation, continue to work efficiently, and capture various opportunities to promote legislation in a timely manner. We support the work team to warmly invite a group of legal experts who are willing to participate in the legislative study of the "Anti-Animal Cruelty Law" to join, and suggest that the work team should connect more media friends who are willing to cover this legal advocacy process in depth; We look forward to more caring people joining to become volunteers to carry out fruitful work from legal advice, communication, fundraising, and outreach. We know that the work team has less experience in this area, and there are not many social forces that can unite and connect. We look forward to these shortcomings being improved as soon as possible in our work.

VI. The NPC and CPPCC "two sessions meetings" in 2020 are scheduled to be held on May 21 and 22. For many years, CBCGDF has persisted in the work practice of making recommendations to NPC deputies and CPPCC members before "two sessions". Prior to participating in the legislative advocacy of many laws, for example, has been calling on China to establish the "Biodiversity Conservation Law." In the near future, we will pass the voice of "Anti-Animal Cruelty Legislation" to NPC deputies and CPPCC members to promote the formal submission of proposals / recommendations. Once the "Wildlife Protection Law" is formally revised, we will actively submit legal proposals to amend the relevant provisions and add the content of "Anti-Cruelty to Animals".

CBCGDF Biological and Scientific Ethics Working Committee

Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2kCCMqUCPyKLffSR8p2tiw

By / Maggie