Evaluating China's Draft Animal Protection Law

Abstract

The proposal to introduce a Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Law in the People's Republic of China is an important development in animal protection legislation. This article examines the motivations behind the draft anti-cruelty law and evaluates its ability to protect animals in China. In particular, the article discusses the problems with relying on anti-cruelty laws to protect animals from harm and the recent development of a statutory duty of care towards animals that is now applied in Europe, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. In its final form, the China draft law has abandoned the inclusion of a duty of care towards animals and prohibits only overt animal cruelty. This article examines how animal cruelty has been defined by courts in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong and concludes that without the inclusion of a statutory duty of care in China's draft law, the effective protection of China's animals cannot be achieved.