Policy and Practice: The Ongoing Struggle to Enforce Animal Welfare Regulation and Implement Animal Welfare Law in China | ALN

When it comes to animal protection, China’s government has instituted a raft of local regulations that in print could serve as a model for many nations. However, what’s in print isn’t always in practice.

Twenty-five years ago, in a tightly-controlled isolated China, there was no notion of or reference to animal welfare. Live animals were routinely fed to circus, safari park, and zoo carnivores. Taking care of animals was not only outside the realm of science; it was a menial job. Those who cared for pets, farm, and military animals, trained incidentally as part of a vocational agricultural program and used home-grown approximations of anaesthetics for accidents or emergencies.

Thanks to a confluence of trends including a growing market economy, since then external and Chinese animal protection groups have been able to establish a footing. With the bold support of China’s nationally prominent and local scientists, these animal protection groups have been working within China on two fronts: introducing the idea that animals feel pain and reinforcing the message that inflicting pain is tantamount to abuse. Furthermore welfare organizations have been teaching local groups to be proactive in supporting proposals for local regulation and national animal welfare law.

Read the full article by Helen Kelly and Anthony James at www.alnmag.com