Animal Welfare in China: New Directions

Abstract

In June 2010 an expert Drafting Committee of international animal welfare groups and Chinese academics proposed the country’s first law to protect animals from cruelty. The Draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Law (People’s Republic of China) was formally presented to the National People’s Congress in June 2010. The Draft Law is an important development in animal protection legislation in China. Currently there are no national laws to protect China’s animals unless they belong to a valuable endangered species. The Draft Law which has been presented to the National People’s Congress underwent substantial amendment before the final version was settled upon. At the early stages of drafting, the Law provided for a duty of care towards animals and emphasised animal welfare alongside protection from cruelty. After public consultation in China, the Drafting Committee abandoned the inclusion of a duty of care in the Law. Their final version of the Draft Law only protects animals from overt acts of cruelty. Negligence and owner ignorance causing animal suffering are not legally actionable. This paper will discuss the reasons for the amendment to the final version of the Draft Law, whether the amendments were necessary and evaluate the ability of the law to protect the animals of China, if it is passed into legislation. This paper will discuss the reasons China is waking up to the need to protect its animals. It will discuss the provisions included in the Draft Law, the provisions which were abandoned for policy reasons and evaluate whether the Law, in its current form, can be effectively enforced to protect China’s animals.