WHY DOES CHINA STILL HAVE NO ANIMAL CRUELTY LAW? 🇨🇳🐾
Since Wang Wang, I’ve kept coming back to this question.
So I started researching it.
And the first thing that surprised me was this:
China has been debating animal cruelty legislation for more than 15 years.
Chinese legal scholars developed a proposed Animal Protection Law around 2009.
After objections that it was too broad and difficult to implement, they came back with a narrower Anti-Animal Cruelty Law in 2010.
It still went nowhere.
And the legal gap remains today.
China has laws covering wildlife, livestock, disease control and other uses of animals.
But there’s still no national law that directly makes cruelty to companion animals itself an offence.
That creates some strange outcomes.
When horrific abuse is exposed, universities, employers, platforms or police may find other grounds to act - morality, reputation, property damage or public-order concerns - rather than simply prosecuting the cruelty itself.
And if the victim is a stray animal, even the property route may disappear. That’s what happened with Wang Wang,
This isn’t a new debate.
Chinese scholars, lawmakers, journalists and animal advocates have been raising it for years.
So the question I wanted answered was:
What has actually stopped a national anti-cruelty law from passing?
There are some very specific reasons.
Part 2 tomorrow: why it keeps stalling.
Disclaimer: I’m not Chinese, and I’m not a lawyer. I’ve tried to stick closely to Chinese legal sources, academic research and reporting while understanding this.
#AnimalProtection #StopAnimalCruelty #WangWang #AnimalWelfare #China #JusticeForWangWang #旺旺 #ワンワン