Guest guest Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 South China Morning Post http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZQ2UYZ7YE.html Saturday, February 17, 2007 Welfare group pushes for NPC to draft law on animal protection by NG TZE-WEI A mainland animal welfare group appealed in Beijing yesterday for public support to have legislation protecting animal welfare and banning animal torture passed at next month's annual meeting of the National People's Congress. The Chinese Small Animals' Protection Association is to petition the legislative body for laws covering the humane slaughter of animals for food and fur, as well as a ban on the consumption of pets. Association vice-president Cai Meng said: " The ultimate solution to animal protection lies in legislation. We cannot solely rely on empathy. " The appeal follows the dramatic rescue of more than 400 battered and tightly caged cats from a small room in Tianjin on Sunday by a group of volunteers from the Tianjin-based " I Cat Home " . The volunteers rescued the cats after angry local residents near the Minquanmen wholesale market broke into a suspected cat vendor's shop in the hope of retrieving their lost pets. The animals were to be sold for food and their fur. Police allowed the volunteers to have custody of the cats because the vendors were not licensed to sell them. The association, which helped truck the cats to Beijing on Sunday night, said the case exposed the legal system's failure to protect domestic animals. It has been pushing for animal welfare legislation since its establishment in 1994. Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference representative Hu Qiheng , who accompanied the association to collect the cats from Tianjin, has drafted a petition to be presented when the conference convenes its annual session next month. The association, meanwhile, is seeking donations of funds and medical supplies to help the cats. The Hong Kong Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals pledged yesterday to send a veterinary team to Beijing to help with sterilisation of the cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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