CHINA DOG CRISIS

No Humane Society and no government funding to protect 60 million homeless dogs.

Companion animals or pets are a new concept in China. Before 1990, it was
not allowed by the Communist Party. With the growth of disposable income and
Western influence, the demand for companion pets has developed.
Unlike the U.S., there isn’t any large-scale humane network to care for or
advocate for abandoned dogs. The government offers no resources either. 

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No animal protection law for companion animals.

Among the top 10 most industrialized nations, China is the only one that does not
have a law against animal cruelty. In 2009, laws protecting animals were
proposed for the first time at the annual meeting of China’s Parliament, the
National People’s Congress. Every single year since then, a draft of a proposed
animal protection law has been circulated, but nothing has been enacted after a
decade.

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Puppy mills run wild without oversight.

Animals bred on pet farms live in poor conditions and are not immunized, which
means they carry various parasites and diseases. Unhealthy animals are given
cheap antisera to perk them up and then groomed to ensure they sell. Once they
arrive at their new homes, the injections wear off and the animals usually die
quickly. There is a special term for such a scenario: “week old puppy”, meaning

they last only a week. For those that get sick, oftentimes, they are abandoned on
the streets.
At current growth rates, there will be 300 million pet cats and dogs in China by
2022. Valued at less than 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in 2010, those markets
were worth 170 billion yuan (US$18 billion) in 2018. The market for pets is
exploding, yet there are still no animal protection laws or even legal standards of
care currently in place. The farming, immunization, and trading of pets aren’t
covered by any specific laws; therefore, it isn't against the law to breed carelessly
or sell a sick puppy.

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Accelerated urbanization has created millions of homeless dogs in rural China.

In rural China, dogs are common in households and are generally used as the
“gate watchers.” These dogs are usually chained for life on the family property,
never allowed to go inside the house, sometimes not protected against the
elements, and seldom treated with kindness.
With rapid urbanization over the last thirty years, millions of people have left rural
communities and moved into high-rise apartment buildings. Unfortunately, dogs
were left behind because they are regarded as “too dirty” to live inside a home.
With an urbanization target of 70% by 2025, that’s 900 million people leaving the
countryside. It is common in rural China to see abandoned dogs waiting in front of
the old family house for their owners to return.

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No humane population control.

In response to public complaints about rabies and other diseases, city
governments attempt to eliminate stray dogs by brutally killing them. Commonly
known in Chinese as Chengguan, local government law enforcement agencies
organize routine campaigns to round up stray dogs, beating them to death or
drowning them to decrease the stray dog population on the streets.

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For some people, it’s too hard to have a dog.

Harsh new regulations to confiscate and kill unregistered dogs and banned
breeds (those taller than 35 mm) are leaving many pet owners scrambling on
short notice to obtain licenses for their dogs, to hastily re-home breeds that have
recently been banned, and to struggle to follow extremely harsh restrictions
regarding caring for their pets (they are ordered where and when they should
walk their dogs). Such violent and cruel policies create more problems than they
solve as more dogs are abandoned (registration fees and penalties are just too
high and it is impractical to have to walk the dog within a certain period in certain
areas).

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Dog meat trade problem

20 million dogs get slaughtered each year for their meat.
That’s a bigger number than the population of New York City. Even though only
20% of the Chinese people claim to eat dog meat, that’s still 280 million people.

Most of the dogs in the dog meat trade are homeless dogs wandering the streets.
Others are stolen, poached, or illegally shipped from all over China to a few
regions that are known for eating dog meat: Guangdong, Guangxi, and Northeast
provinces. In the rural areas of China, dog meat eating is common regardless of
the region.
The annual dog meat “festival” in Yulin in June is the most infamous and has
come to epitomize the cruelty of the trade due to the barbaric practice of torturing
the dogs prior to consumption. During the ten day summer solstice celebration,
10,000 dogs are slaughtered and consumed.
Since the exposure of the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in 2015, there has been a
huge international pressure to shut down the Yulin Festival altogether. Nonprofits
and NGOs from all over the world have committed extensive resources and effort
to rescue, rehab, and rehome these dogs to the U.S. and other parts of the world.
It seems like a good idea, but it's expensive, labor-intensive, logistically difficult,
and a continued hardship on the dogs themselves.

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Northeast China dog crisis

Although less prominent than the infamous Yulin festival in southern China, the dog meat trade is
active in China & northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. This region has a
history of dog meat consumption, particularly among the ethnic North Korean minority. During the
years, it makes northeast of China is one the top region dog meat consumption market.
 

• Widespread but less publicized: While the Yulin festival has become a global flashpoint, the dogmeat trade in the northeast is more decentralized and occurs year-round in smaller markets and restaurants.

• Criminal ties: The trade in the northeast, as in other parts of China, is largely fueled by criminal
  activity. Dogs are often stolen pets or strays, illegally trafficked across provincial borders without
  the required health and vaccination certificates.

• Reported cruelty: Investigations by animal welfare groups have documented extreme crueltyduring the capture, transport, and slaughter of dogs in the northeast. This includes keepinganimals in cramped cages for days without food or water.