Animals Asia Response: Websites depicting animal cruelty
November 2010
Once again, voices are raised in protest again the posting of images online depicting animal cruelty and slaughter as "entertainment".This phenomenon is an extremely disturbing development and has provoked strenuous reaction across China and worldwide.
At Animals Asia we are working tirelessly to increase public awareness of animal welfare issues in China and throughout Asia. Our philosophy is one of using education to stimulate an animal friendly society. Our Dr Dog and Professor Paws programmes take dogs into institutions such as care homes, orphanages and schools, to show how beneficial animals can be for human health and well-being, and to educate children to respect all animals. Our Friends or Food? and Action against Cruelty campaigns highlight many animal welfare issues within China and we work closely with local welfare groups, concerned citizens and government officials, in order to raise the profile and priority of animal welfare issues.
Preventing videos showing animals being tortured and killed form being posted online is very difficult. These depraved activities, by their nature, tend to occur "underground", and as such are very difficult to trace. Even if they can be traced the authorities are often unable to act because of a lack of legislation protecting animals' welfare in China.
In this case however, the level of public outrage these videos have generated has in fact resulted in one person being identified – it remains to be seen what, if any, consequences may be enforced, again because of a lack of legislation.
The best way to help is by continuing to make people aware of the issue. Animals Asia has written to the website owners that are currently hosting these images asking to them to remove them straight away and not to provide the producers of these images with a platform to show these acts of depravity. You can read an English translation of the letter here.
We have written to the police authority within the area where this video has been produced to ask for their assistance to investigate this case, and we will continue to support the development of animal protection legislation nationwide to criminalise these activities.
The latest draft animal protection law states 'Any work unit, individual or organisation has the duty to prevent cruelty to animals, has the right to obtain relevant animal protection information from the government, and has the right to report and expose such acts as abandonment of and cruelty towards animals.'
And also proposes protection for people affected by acts of animal cruelty: In cases where acts such as abandonment of or cruelty towards an animal by another work unit, individual or organisation results in harm to the physical or emotional health of the public, any work unit, individual or organisation may initiate a civil lawsuit in the People's Court to demand that the violation cease.
For more information on the development of the draft animal protection legislation click here.
These videos show images of animal cruelty which in addition to causing severe animal suffering will also have a negative psychological impact upon the people viewing them and could lead to people copying these acts and causing further suffering to animals and people.
We urge you to do all that you can to encourage the Chinese Government to adopt animal protection legislation for all animals in China. Please write a polite letter to the Chinese Ambassador and send it to the main embassy address in your country. Embassy addresses can be found here.
Animals Asia is working towards the development of a society which respects the welfare of all animals. Working together and with your support we can bring about change for the better for all animals across China.
Update: ActAsia Statement
This latest example of animal cruelty has galvanised animal welfare groups across China. To date, over 30 animal protection organisations have banded together to protest this cruelty and signed on to a joint statement condemning these films and calling for the passing of animal protection laws by the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
