Nowadays, people have been advocating a severe crackdown on the illegal cat and dog industry chain and banning the sale of cat and dog meat. One reason is that we believe that cats and dogs, as the main companion animals, have separated from the ranks of livestock and poultry and should no longer be used as a source of meat. The other main reason is that our country has not formulated recommended slaughtering procedures for cats and dogs. Therefore, the cat and dog meat on the market has not been inspected and quarantined, which violates the Food Safety Law.
Recently, volunteers from all over the country have worked together with local government law enforcement departments to crack down on the black industry chain of cats and dogs in Mianyang, Sichuan, Rugao, Jiangsu and other places - illegal activities of arresting, stealing, selling, and slaughtering cats and dogs. We have always hoped that relevant national departments can strengthen supervision and rectification, and clearly prohibit the slaughter of cats, dogs and other companion animals, and prohibit the sale of cat and dog meat.
As early as January last year, at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the China Green Development Council jointly advocated with a number of organizations to amend the law to ban wild animals and companion animals and establish a comprehensive and long-term legal mechanism for animal epidemic prevention. And put forward two specific suggestions:
1. Amend the "Wild Animal Protection Law" to prohibit breeding and all trading of wild animals.
2. Repeal Article 29 of the "Implementation Measures for the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Law" and prohibit the trading of dogs and cats other than for companionship purposes.
During this year’s two sessions, the Colored Earth Guardian team also organized the drafting of a number of legislative proposals, including recommendations for unified national law enforcement to prohibit the slaughter of dogs and cats and the sale of cat and dog meat, and strengthen supervision of dog and cat breeding and sales. In the end, dozens of people’s congress representatives from at least 11 provinces and cities submitted relevant proposals.
On July 12, 2021, the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "Reply to Recommendation No. 9778 of the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress" and "Reply to Recommendation No. 1866 of the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress". The content of the two responses is consistent. Reply from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
We have received your suggestion on prohibiting the slaughter of animals and the sale of their meat without establishing corresponding slaughter inspection regulations. The State Administration for Market Regulation now responds as follows.
In recent years, our Ministry has successively issued regulations on the slaughter and quarantine of pigs, cattle, sheep, poultry, and rabbits to guide local governments in slaughtering and quarantine work. In 2020, the "Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Further Strengthening Animal Quarantine Work" clarified that the slaughter and quarantine of horses, donkeys, camels, sika deer, red deer, and alpacas shall be implemented in accordance with the "Health and Quarantine Regulations for Livestock and Poultry Slaughter" (NY/T467-2001).
Currently, there are no clear breeds of meat dogs in my country, and nationally unified laws and regulations for dog management have not yet been promulgated. Only a few large and medium-sized cities have promulgated local laws and regulations for dog management, and they mainly manage pet dogs. Neither the World Organization for Animal Health nor most countries have relevant regulations or requirements for dog slaughter and quarantine. Therefore, our country does not have the conditions to issue dog slaughter and quarantine regulations. For the management of dogs, various localities can further improve relevant systems and achieve standardized management based on local realities and based on listening to opinions from all parties.
In the next step, our ministry will continue to strengthen animal quarantine work and guide various localities to carry out slaughter and quarantine in strict accordance with regulations. Together with the State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments, we will continue to strengthen supervision, strengthen supervision and inspection, supervise the implementation of corporate responsibilities, and shall not purchase meat that has not been quarantined in accordance with regulations or has failed to pass the quarantine. Strengthen publicity and guide all localities to implement the newly revised Animal Epidemic Prevention Law, and work with market supervision departments to carry out activities such as National Food Safety Publicity Week to deeply publicize laws and regulations related to meat and meat products and food safety science knowledge, and guide consumers to purchase meat and meat products from formal channels.
Such a piece of news aroused great social repercussions as soon as it was released. This also shows that people's attention to the protection of companion animals and food safety is constantly increasing.
Compared with previous years, this reply has made great progress in attitude and clarified the following content:
1, my country does not have a clear breed of meat dogs;
2, my country does not have dog slaughter and quarantine regulations;
3, my country does not have the conditions to introduce dog slaughter and quarantine regulations.
This is exciting news for the protection of companion animals and the fight against illegal production of cats and dogs! It shows that the cat and dog meat on the market has not gone through any formal inspection and quarantine from slaughter to sale, and it is impossible to go through any formal inspection and quarantine, which poses huge food safety risks. The answer from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs also brings us one step closer to the goal of completely banning cat and dog meat!
However, we will never deny that the black industry of cat and dog meat still exists in various places, and may even exist for a long time. This cannot be banned immediately with a reply from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. We also need volunteers from all over the country to work together with us to ban it.
The road ahead is long and the responsibilities are heavy.