“Our nation still lacks a comprehensive law to protect animals from abuse,” said Shenglian Luo, a Chinese NPC deputy in support of the enactment of animal protection legislation.
For years, several NPC deputies have been advocating for the creation of anti-animal abuse legislation.
According to an online survey in 2010, 80 percent of the netizens surveyed showed approval for such legislation, and 75 percent believed that animal abusers should be legally responsible.
Luo thinks current laws on animal protection have too many flaws.
“The laws are incomplete. Many animals are excluded from the protection list. The existing laws are full of contradictions and can’t be carried out smoothly. In addition, animal abuse has not been strictly defined, not to mention the precaution and punishment for it,” said Luo.
The official response was released on the press conference held on last Monday, March 12th. Chaoying Wang, Deputy Director of Legal Council of Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, elaborated on this issue.
“Legislation protecting companion animals is still under research and discussion, and we haven’t reached a consensus on this. I’m afraid that little progress would be made in the short term,” Wang responded.
Info from Procuratorial Daily, Phoenix New Media, and SDNews.com
Photo from Procuratorial Daily
Written by Hengyu Du, edited by Riley Peng @Animal Dialogue
