Xiaoyang has to think for a minute to figure out how many dogs he is fostering. “Forty or 50 — something like that,” he eventually says.
The stray rescue and re-homing operation he runs on a voluntary basis from his yard on the outskirts of Shenzhen, in southern China, requires a dawn-to-dusk schedule of walking, feeding and cleaning.
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His social media feed is a dedicated stream of adoption advertisements: “One-year-old street dog, male, gets along with all people, gentle and lively, neutered, vaccinated.” Or “Five-years-old poodle, was abandoned, shy.” The listed price is always the same: free.
Like many dog lovers in China, Xiaoyang was shocked by a recent spate of animal-cruelty incidents that have drawn attention on social media, and he has been tracking a fierce national debate about whether dogs should be guaranteed better protection in law. (Cats and other companion animals too, he acknowledges when asked.)
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But legislating to prohibit animal cruelty is an oddly controversial topic in China. While there are tens of millions of dog and cat lovers, their calls for change are often drowned out by a relatively small but vocal crowd of conservative thinkers who believe caring for animals is elitist, undermines China’s development and infringes upon the traditions of those few Chinese who still eat dog meat.
Chinese health workers killed a corgi while its owner was in quarantine
These sentiments, combined with concerns from farmers and slaughterhouses about welfare provisions undermining profit and city governments’ fears of being overrun by pets, have thwarted progress on an animal protection law that was drafted in 2009 but has never made it onto the legislative agenda.
Peter Li, China policy specialist at Humane Society International and an associate professor of East Asian politics at University of Houston-Downtown, likens the polarized discussion over animal welfare in China to a “civil war” mostly fought between conservatives and pet owners, with the former having maintained the upper hand for the past decade.
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Among the main obstacles to stronger protections is China’s vast and expanding network of factory farms. “The authorities fear a spillover effect. If you take action for companion animals, then the livestock industry could be the next target,” Li said.
The Chinese government has remained reluctant to embrace animal welfare. It instead approaches pet ownership primarily as an urban management and public health problem. But a recent groundswell of anger over repeat failures to crack down on animal cruelty is piling pressure on the authorities’ hands-off approach.
First, it was outcry over a pet corgi that was beaten and killed by hazmat suit-wearing workers as part of coronavirus containment measures after its owner was placed in quarantine.
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Then, a cat living on the campus of the Fudan University in Shanghai turned up dead with signs of being abused. A university security guard in Anhui province was fired after he was suspected of hanging to death a dog from a tree during a roundup of strays on the campus.
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“The most terrifying thing right now is that this bunch of sickos work together,” said Xiaoyang, who asked to be referred to by a nickname for fear that talking to Western media could result in online attacks. “That there are still people who buy and watch this stuff, it’s unthinkable.”
Activists gather 11 million signatures against China’s infamous dog-meat festival
The acts of cruelty reignited already widespread support among pet owners for a proposal to add an anti-animal abuse law to the legislative agenda of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament.
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Such concerns regularly factor in conservatives’ attacks on advocates for animal welfare or related progressive beliefs, which they sometimes label as part of a Western-led conspiracy to undermine China’s development.
On microblog Weibo, a hashtag called “root out extremist animal protection groups” has 8 million views and is regularly used by commentators to attack advocates who support anti-cruelty legislation.
In October, when an animal-rights activist surnamed Zhang tipped off police in Sichuan province about a suspected illegal shipment of 400 dogs, likely for consumption, she and two fellow volunteers were surrounded and beaten by a group of assailants wielding wooden clubs.
This month, a documentary about vegetarianism, featuring Chinese celebrities and underscoring the poor treatment of farm animals, was accused by a conservative scholar in nationalist tabloid the Global Times of being the result of “blind worship” of Western values and views.
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Watching the furor over the corgi-killing incident, Chen Yuelin, 37, a volunteer for an organization focusing on stray cats and dogs in Quanzhou city in southeastern Fujian province, felt helpless.
Rules for the quarantine procedures for pets may be possible but there has been “basically no progress” on animal protection legislation in recent years because awareness of the issue is uncommon beyond pet owners, she said.
Prominent groups advocating for anti-cruelty laws are often accused of being radical. “Many people would say, ‘There are lots of homeless people on the streets, why would you rescue stray cats and dogs instead of them?’？” Chen said.
Chinese lawmakers seek better protections for rhino and other endangered animals
Any improvement in well-being for China’s companion animals in recent years has been almost entirely the result of independent civil groups and volunteers such as Xiaoyang, which operate with little or no official support and take it upon themselves to care for strays, including getting them vaccinated and neutered.
As the population of pet owners has grown, government attitudes have gradually shifted. China now has more pet owners than any other country besides the United States. Last year, officials removed dogs from a list of animals classified as livestock.
But the primary focus of policy is on managing, not protecting, China’s huge pet population. Fearful of animal-borne diseases and out-of-control animals, the authorities emphasize “civilized” pet ownership.
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In some cases, official media has started to cautiously take the side of pet lovers. In response to outcry over the corgi killing, state broadcaster CCTV said pets of quarantined individuals should be handled differently from “livestock” but did not rule out the right of the state to dispose of animals when epidemic prevention required. Police have cracked down on videos and images of animal torture being bought and sold online.
But advocates fear that government inaction on animal protections will continue as long as conservative voices can dominate the discussion and sow doubts about the true motives of animal-rights advocates.
“The movement is absolutely native to China, but it got a lot of help from international groups,” said Li of Humane Society International. “When we provide assistance, it’s not because we are trying to make China collapse.”
Activists gather 11 million signatures against China’s infamous dog-meat festival
Chinese health workers killed a corgi while its owner was in quarantine
Chinese lawmakers seek better protections for rhino and other endangered animals