"A lively and cute puppy will be randomly delivered for 98 yuan." In recent years, the blind box economy has been hot, and some businesses have put animals into blind boxes.
On May 3, 2021, some netizens broke the news that a large number of blind pet boxes appeared at a courier point in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and many kittens and dogs were dying on the roadside.
Although nearly a year has passed since the incident, the aftermath has not subsided.
The Chengdu Intermediate People's Court of Sichuan Province recently issued an announcement stating that on July 5, 2021, the court filed a case to accept the plaintiff Beijing Changping District Multiple Intelligence Environment Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as "Multiple Intelligence") against the defendant Zhongtong Express Co., Ltd. for express delivery. In the case of an environmental civil public interest lawsuit caused by a pet blind box, both parties have reached a mediation agreement.
Event: Live pets are put into blind boxes and sent directly to ordinary inter-provincial express
This online incident originated from the afternoon of May 3, 2021. Love House Animal Rescue Center, an animal welfare organization in Chengdu, intercepted about 177 express packages containing animals at a ZTO express point, including 36 live cats, 141 pet dogs were sent to other places from Chengdu.
And there is no safety certificate such as inspection and quarantine in the mailing box.
Four dogs and cats died, and a dozen others were diagnosed with diseases such as distemper and cat distemper, one volunteer said.
The rescue organization said that after the local animal quarantine department inspected, the animals were taken over by them.
"Blind boxes", which can be expressed in English as mystery boxes or mystery toyboxes, usually contain peripheral products of animation, film and television works, or dolls designed by designers alone.
The reason why it is called "blind box" is because consumers can't see which one is in it when they buy it, and can only see it after opening it, and the surprise they get from it fascinates many people.
With the popularity of the blind box concept, in addition to dolls, blind box series products have also been launched in food, clothing, books, cultural and creative fields and other fields.
Pet blind boxes are very popular on Taobao, Pinduoduo and other e-commerce platforms. Buyers can buy pets with unknown breeds and shapes for 10 yuan or less.
Consumers open the blind box, which may be cute cats or dogs, or white mice, scorpions, spiders, lizards, turtles, etc.
With the gimmick of "unpacking surprises", the merchants stuffed live cats and dogs into the blind box, leaving only the air outlet, and went through several days of inter-provincial transportation together with other goods, which is very likely to cause animals to be transported during the transportation process. died of suffocation or dehydration.
On the afternoon of May 4, 2021, ZTO Express issued a statement apologizing for its illegal collection of live animals from e-commerce customers at its express point.
ZTO Express said that it has closed the express delivery point involved for rectification, and the person in charge of delivery safety of ZTO Express Sichuan Provincial Management Center has been suspended for inspection and his annual performance bonus has been deducted.
Rectification: The express company promises to strictly implement the live delivery system
The Animal Epidemic Prevention Law clearly stipulates that animals slaughtered, sold, and transported, as well as animals used for non-edible purposes such as scientific research, exhibitions, performances, and competitions, shall be accompanied by quarantine certificates; animal products sold and transported shall be accompanied by Quarantine certificates and quarantine signs; if animals and animal products are transported by air, railway, road or water, the shipper shall provide a quarantine certificate when consigning the goods. If there is no quarantine certificate, the carrier shall not carry the goods.
The "Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Postal Law" stipulates that "all kinds of live animals" are prohibited from being delivered or entrained in the mail.
For pet transportation, you need to find a logistics company to go through additional procedures, and let the quarantine department issue an animal quarantine certificate.
Buyers must also go to designated locations, such as airports and stations, to pick up their pets.
On June 25, 2021, "Multiple Intelligence" filed a civil public interest lawsuit for ecological environmental damage liability in relation to ZTO Express's illegal transportation of live animals in blind boxes for pets, which resulted in the death of some animals.
In the lawsuit, "Multiple Intelligence" stated that ZTO Express, as an enterprise that relies on the trend of online shopping for survival, should follow the principles of saving resources and protecting the ecological environment during the development of express delivery business, and not harm public interests.
"Multiple Intelligence" believes that many animals die on the way due to various reasons due to the courier company collecting live animals for express delivery.
These animals lacking inspection and quarantine, regardless of life or death, will have risks of spreading viruses and bacteria, posing a serious threat to public safety.
"Multiple intelligences" requires that the defendant should formulate strict collection work specifications and ensure that the damage caused by animal blind box express to the public interest is completely eliminated under controllable and visible conditions, and at the same time, it is necessary to check the existing traceable goods. The number of animal blind boxes and the number of animal deaths caused, etc., and compensation for ecological environment losses is based on this data.
Before the court's mediation, the defendant had issued a notice on the illegal delivery of live animals through the official Weibo website, apologized to the public and the media, and formulated a series of regulations and systems to strengthen the management of live animals.
In the mediation agreement, the defendant promised to continue to implement the existing live express delivery business system, norms and rectification measures from the headquarters, management center and branch level, and completely eliminate the risk of pet blind boxes entering the express network.
The plaintiff acknowledged the measures taken by the defendant.
In addition, the defendant donated 300,000 yuan to the Zhejiang Charity Foundation, which was specially used for environmental protection public welfare projects and environmental protection education projects.
Reflection: Blind box economy, cannot grow "blindly"
After the rise of the blind box economy, pet blind box tragedies have occurred many times.
On September 20, 2021, more than a hundred pet blind boxes were abandoned on the streets of Jiading District, Shanghai.
Well-known pet blogger @Shanghai Adopted Home said on Weibo that after inspection, in addition to the dead pets, the pet blind box included 71 cats and 36 dogs.
The rescuer, Mr. Zhao, said that pets were sent from all over the country to express outlets in Shanghai, but Shanghai was very strict, and the express did not dare to send them, but they could not handle them, so they were abandoned on the side of the road.
The issue of pet blind box transactions involves the responsibilities of the seller, the transporter and the buyer.
From the perspective of the seller, there is a problem of lax supervision.
The e-commerce platform has not fulfilled its due management responsibilities for the sales methods of the merchants; when the merchants arrange the transportation of live animals, they have not provided the quarantine certificates of the transported animals in accordance with the law, and claimed that they do not accept the specified varieties, returns and bad reviews. , bringing difficulties to consumers' rights protection.
From the perspective of the transporter, there is currently a legal blind spot in the pet living blind box.
Han Xiao, a lawyer from Beijing Kangda Law Firm, said that with regard to animal protection, there is currently only one "Wild Animal Protection Law" in my country that directly regulates issues related to animal protection, and there is no comprehensive animal protection law.
This has led to frequent pet abuse news and animal abandonment incidents without strong measures to intervene.
According to the "Implementation Rules of the Postal Law" and "Regulations on the Administration of Prohibited Items", live animals of endangered wild animals are "prohibited" items, while cats, dogs and other non-aggressive, non-toxic live animals are not included. , which is a "restricted delivery" item.
Therefore, the delivery of live animals other than endangered wild animals by express companies does not violate the above provisions.
"Now there is no supervision for sending pets by express delivery, and it is very messy." The courier who has been in pet shipping for many years told reporters that live pets need air, food and water during long-distance shipping, including normal lighting conditions, to ensure the animals' sense of security. , so most of them are mainly transported by road, supplemented by air.
During transportation, the cages for storing animals are not covered with an outer cover to avoid death and injury of animals due to darkness, heat and poor air circulation.
Air conditioning is required in the car to ensure normal temperature, water and food are fed 2 to 3 times a day, and caregivers are arranged to take care of the car.
Therefore, pet courier costs are high, often ranging from three to four hundred yuan, and there are clear requirements for the number of pets to be transported.
Sending by courier is an improper way of consigning pets. Many courier companies are unwilling to accept blind boxes for live pets. Only some courier companies with lax management illegally accept blind boxes for live pets in order to earn more courier fees. .
From the perspective of the buyer, pet consumption also lacks the necessary rationality.
At present, there are more than 99 million domestic pet households. Induced by the gimmick that "the moment the lid is opened, surprises and shocks are possible", many people buy it just for the surprise and surprise of the moment when the box is opened. It’s fun, and I haven’t made the psychological, material and intellectual preparations to keep pets for a long time. Once I buy an animal that I don’t like, it is very easy to abuse or abandon the animal.
"Consumers should maintain rational consumption and consciously boycott pet blind boxes that do not respect life. They should think carefully about the products they buy, not blindly pursuing excitement, and not blindly immersing themselves in the 'surprise' brought by blind boxes." World Animal A head of the Conservation Society said.
"To really achieve regulation, we still need multi-party cooperation among e-commerce platforms, merchants, consumers, and express delivery companies, rather than restricting only one party." As the head of the first animal protection public welfare foundation in mainland China, its fund supervisor Sun Haiyang It is called for the relevant departments to strictly enforce the law and sort out more detailed regulatory rules.
"It's time for this phenomenon to end."