The outrage expressed in China, and globally, following three shocking animal cruelty cases there are a wake-up call for policymakers everywhere—in every nation. China is one of the few countries without a stand-alone, comprehensive anti-cruelty law, something Chinese animal lovers have called for repeatedly. It’s time their voices were heard.
The first incident involved a man in Chongqing who allegedly acquired puppies and dogs at adoption events and then tortured and mutilated them. Neighbors exposed his actions online and the ensuing public indignation spurred authorities to place him under administrative detention without a specific charge according to China’s Public Security Administration Punishment Law.
The second case concerned Chutou, a collie whose owner, a social media influencer named Guo, attracted 1.5 million viewers for his accounts of their joint adventures across China. In a tragic turn, Chutou was stolen from the backyard of Guo’s parents, sold to a dog meat trader and slaughtered for food.
For Guo, this was not about the loss of property but the loss of a family member, a feeling to which millions of Chinese pet owners could relate. Chutou’s case highlighted the developing disconnect between public sentiment, the weakness of animal protection law and contemporary social realities (in this instance, the dog meat trade and its incentives to theft) in China.
The third case involved four 13-year-old boys in Jieyang, Guangdong Province, who filmed themselves beating puppies to death and setting the pups’ mother on fire, resulting in her agonizing death. These appalling actions have drawn condemnation both within and outside China. Even in a deeply disturbing situation like this, however, under China’s legal system, neither juvenile nor adult perpetrators would face criminal liability.
The public reaction to these three incidents shows that a growing number of Chinese citizens view acts of animal cruelty as unacceptable. A consensus is also developing on the point that such extreme misconduct, especially on the part of minors, should not be dismissed as harmless mischief, and citizens and policy makers in China are increasingly aware of the social science research that demonstrates the inextricable connection between cruelty to animals and interpersonal violence.
The fundamental problem is that while China has several laws with limited welfare provisions relating to animals — in zoos, laboratories and agriculture, for example — it lacks a dedicated anti-cruelty law. That leaves authorities with a limited range of tools to address animal abuse, cruelty and neglect.
China has two practical legislative options in the near term. The first is a comprehensive anti-cruelty law to prohibit intentional cruelty and neglect and establish enforceable standards across a range of animal welfare concerns. The second is a more focused and achievable companion animal protection law that forbids the slaughter of dogs, cats and other companion animals for food, bans basic forms of neglect and cruelty, and imposes duties of responsible care.
Either approach would promote greater social harmony around the question of animals’ treatment and respond to the concerns of China’s rapidly expanding population of pet owners, who number more than 100 million. In embracing this path, China would join dozens of nations with more developed animal protection laws, and the world would applaud the government’s taking steps in this direction.
Animal cruelty remains, as it always has been, a global problem, and even in those nations with established laws and strong legacies of concern, shocking cruelties persist. That makes this a moment for self-examination, too. In supporting the call for a substantive animal protection law in China, we should all be thinking hard about the weakness, inefficacy and fragility of animal cruelty laws just about everywhere else, and what we can do to strengthen them.
For example, in the United Kingdom, although public polling shows immense opposition to global trophy hunting, the government has yet to deliver on its promise to ban animal trophy imports; the same thing is true regarding the importation and sale of animal fur. Japan continues to permit dolphin hunting and commercial whaling, even though countless Japanese citizens oppose both activities. And in the United States, after a dozen states moved to ban the worst intensive confinement practices, a backwards-facing segment of the pork industry is using all its power to destroy that emerging animal protection framework through a federal override.
These and other examples make it clear that cross-cultural censure of animal cruelty is both complicated and—in some cases—fraught with hypocrisy. Whenever we advance such criticism against other nations, we must be honest with ourselves about the many areas in which our own fall short in the promise of moral fairness and practical action in support of animals and their most fundamental interests. Cruelty is endemic throughout the world and when it comes to animals and their mistreatment, we can all do a whole lot better.