How to balance pet protection and epidemic prevention under the epidemic?
There are legal and institutional gaps in how to manage quarantined pets during the epidemic; animal protection organizations call for the establishment of a national pet quarantine system
After living with humans for ten years, the puppies of Lin Hui (pseudonym) have always been outside and do not defecate, but eventually compromised under the new crown epidemic and learned to share the bathroom with humans.
One person, one dog, spent a special Spring Festival in the isolation hotel.
This happened in January this year.
At that time, Beijing's Daxing District was responding to a local epidemic. Taking into account the needs of pet families, special isolation points for receiving pets were arranged.
On the floor where Lin Hui is located, besides people, there are cats, dogs, and birds; downstairs there are doctors and veterinarians who treat people; there is pet food in the hall, which is specially purchased by the government department.
But some pets are not so lucky.
In the past two years, there have been incidents in which pets were killed because they were positive or because their owners were quarantined in Wuxi, Jiangsu, and Harbin, Heilongjiang. Recently, the incident of “harmless treatment” of pet dogs in Shangrao, Jiangxi has caused controversy in public opinion.
During the epidemic, there are currently legal and institutional gaps in how to manage the pets of quarantined people.
Corresponding explorations have been made in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other places, but there have been no cases involving positive pets.
According to the analysis of disease control personnel, the issues involving pets are more complicated at the specific implementation level.
Whether the host is infected or in close contact, what the community conditions are, and whether they can coordinate to an isolated hotel, all have to be considered.
However, the composition of grassroots prevention and control personnel is relatively complicated, with different professional qualities, and there are no specific regulations. Therefore, the handling of pets is relatively accidental.
Recently, reporters from the Beijing News interviewed animal protection experts, virology experts, front-line disease control personnel, and pet owners in isolation to explore the “both” of epidemic prevention and control and pet protection.
Dogs who have lived in isolation for 21 days
At eight o'clock in the evening, the sky was dark in Beijing.
The puppy was led downstairs by the hostess, and he saw the host Lin Hui who was calling from a distance. He yelled at him twice, and Lin Hui responded with "Hey, hey", like coaxing a child.
After he walked home, he had to wipe the puppy's mouth and disinfect his paws, so he almost put on a mask.
The puppy that was picked up is not a rare breed, but it firmly enjoys a place in Lin Hui's house.
In Lin Hui's mind, puppies are family members and their biggest concerns during the epidemic.
On January 17 this year, local cases were found in Ronghui Community, Tiangongyuan Street, Daxing District, Beijing, where Lin Hui's home is located.
That night, Lin Hui, who had walked the dog home, saw "Da Bai" in protective clothing at the gate of the community and felt uncomfortable.
After returning home, the community was sealed and the residents were isolated at home.
As new cases are discovered in neighboring buildings one after another, residents need to go to centralized isolation points for isolation.
Lin Hui is willing to go, but the first appeal is to solve the problem of caring for the puppy, which is also the concern of the pet family in the community.
After coordination and arrangement, Lin Hui took the puppy and moved into the isolation point.
For Lin Hui and Puppy, this is a special experience.
The puppy never went to the bathroom at home before, and was held back for several days during isolation. The epidemic prevention regulations cannot go out. Lin Hui tried to teach him to use the bathroom. The puppy finally compromised. During the 21 days of isolation, the balcony became the puppy's favorite Where to stay-if you can’t go out, it’s good to look at the outside world; Lin Hui has also seen that dogs can also do nucleic acid tests. During this period, the staff came to collect two nucleic acid samples for puppies, and the test results were all feminine.
At the end of the quarantine, Lin Hui cleaned up the hotel room before leaving.
Different fate of pets in the epidemic
On the afternoon of November 11, a left-behind pet cat welcomed several "Dabai" in the home of a confirmed patient in Shiyang Street, High-tech Zone, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province.
After killing the room, the disease control personnel contacted the patient, changed the water, added food, cleaned the litter box, and collected anal swabs according to the instructions.
In addition to staff to help take care of the domestic pets of the cases, some closed communities have also established WeChat groups for pet families in isolation at home, arranging pet experts to settle in, and instruct owners on how to take care of pets during isolation.
When asked what was the most feared thing at the time, Lin Hui said that the worst possibility that he had imagined was that the person was infected and the puppies were infected.
But when I go to work at two o'clock on the line, there is no possibility of infection. What I have really worried about is only the care of pets.
However, there is currently no standard for how to handle pets during an epidemic.
In the past two years, pet killings have been exposed in many places. Among them, some pets were tested positive, and some were not tested positive because the owner was quarantined.
On January 30, 2020, a citizen in Dongting Street, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, was quarantined. Community staff found a pet cat in the house when they came to disinfect the house, and immediately buried the cat alive.
The street stated that this approach was based on the “first-level response mechanism for major emergencies and the strong demands of the community” and “taking into account the safety of residents”.
On September 27 this year, three pet cats of a confirmed patient in Nangang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang tested positive for nucleic acid and were subsequently euthanized.
The community stated that there is no institution for the treatment of infected animals. If the cats are not dealt with, neither the unit nor the community will be able to resume normal living. “The epidemic will never end.”
Recently, the killing of pets in Shangrao, Jiangxi has caused controversy.
On November 12, a resident who lived in Jinfeng Garden, Xinzhou District, Shangrao, went to the hotel for quarantine. A staff member broke into his house and beat his pet Corgi to kill him.
Xinzhou District Xishi Street New Crown Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Emergency Headquarters informed the next day that staff did not fully communicate with residents, pet dogs were treated harmlessly, relevant personnel were criticized and educated, transferred from corresponding positions, and ordered to apologize to the parties.
Unsolved Questions of Law and Ethics
Several animal protectionists, lawyers, virology experts, and animal ethics experts said that the incident was suspected of breaking the law, violating animal ethics, disrespecting human emotions, and increasing psychological pressure during the epidemic.
Similar incidents reflect weaknesses in the protection of companion animals in the epidemic, which urgently need to be filled.
Sun Haiyang, a lawyer from Beijing Tianchi Juntai Law Firm and supervisor of the Animal Protection Public Welfare Foundation "It Fund", believes that the killing of dogs in Shangrao this time is suspected of being illegal or criminal.
First of all, my country has relevant laws and regulations on whether animals can be culled during epidemics.
The "Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" authorizes local people's governments at or above the county level to culminate animals when infectious diseases are prevalent, with the following prerequisites: only applicable to wild animals, domestic animals and poultry; those that can be culled are animals that have been infected; The killing measures must be approved and announced by the people's government at the next higher level.
Pet dogs are not wild animals, nor are they listed in the livestock and poultry catalog issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, so this rule does not apply to pet dogs and cats.
According to reports, pet owners are not infected, and pet dogs have not been tested and confirmed to be infected. No matter what aspect of analysis, the culling behavior does not comply with the law.
Sun Haiyang said that even during the epidemic prevention and control period, my country still has laws to follow and act in accordance with the law.
Pets are the owner's legal property, and public power cannot dispose of them at will without legal and justified reasons.
On November 16, the foundation applied to Raoxinzhou District for information disclosure, requesting the district government to produce a "harmless disposal" decision, the laws and regulations on which the decision was based, and the specific handling and communication of the staff when the decision was implemented.
As of 18:00 yesterday, the foundation has not received an official response.
Guo Peng, director of the Animal Protection Research Center of Shandong University, said that similar pet killings are violent incidents against animals, behind which are double disrespect for humans and pets, and also reflect the uneven professionalism of grassroots public officials.
"During the epidemic, many people are nervous, and the high-density urban living environment can sometimes cause tension, which may give birth to irrational practices, but these are not the root causes. Violent incidents against animals have always existed, but they have not triggered enough. It’s nothing more than concern.” Guo Peng said that these behaviors are based on epidemic prevention, but they are actually illegal and unreasonable. Among them are disregard and disrespect for personal emotions and animal life.
For the owner, losing a pet can also bring great mental stress and emotional pain.
Sun Haiyang said that during the epidemic, my country attached great importance to the mental health of the people and formulated the "Technical Guidelines for Mental Health Services for the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic", emphasizing the provision of mental health services for patients, quarantined and other groups, and timely intervention of psychological crises.
The emotional connection between pets and their owners is extremely close. For many elderly people, it is an inseparable emotional sustenance. Disposing of pets at will will increase psychological pressure on owners who are already very helpless and anxious during treatment and isolation.
The pet's situation is one of the most important things for pet owners.
Before leaving home, the pets in Shangrao, Jiangxi repeatedly confirmed to the community that the dogs would not be taken away. During the epidemic, there were no shortage of pets who called the official psychological assistance hotline.
During the epidemic in Changping, Beijing, the operator received a call from an quarantined person. He was worried and anxious and could not sleep through the night because he was worried that the pet at home would not be taken care of.
After the community helped solve the care problem, her mood stabilized a lot.
Liu Jing, an expert from Beijing Anding Hospital who has participated in the guidance of psychological assistance for epidemic prevention and control in Daxing District, introduced that pets are of great significance to pet owners and are people's life partners.
Pets can bring a lot of spiritual comfort to humans, reducing loneliness, anxiety, and depression.
Due to the unique "curing" nature of pets, there are even pet treatment methods specifically for depression and autism patients abroad.
During the epidemic, the quarantined people are already in a state of stress, and separation anxiety will arise if they are separated from their pets. If their pets lack care, they will also find it difficult to isolate them at ease; if their pets are suddenly killed, they will have to face a huge sense of loss.
Epidemic prevention and control and pet protection
In many similar incidents, the reasons given by the relevant parties are epidemic prevention and control.
How big is the risk of pets to epidemic prevention and control?
"Whether it is a cat or a dog, there is no conclusive evidence for the status and risk of the new crown infection in humans." Jin Dongyan, a virology expert at the University of Hong Kong, said that it has been found that cats and dogs can be infected with the new crown, but no dog has been found in the world. Reports of dog-to-dog, dog-to-person or cat-to-person transmission.
He believes that if domestic pets live with humans and do not live and socialize in the wild, the possibility of human infection is very low.
However, in specific prevention and control, the handling will be more cautious.
A disease control officer working in a first-tier city told reporters, “The probability of pets infecting people is indeed very low, and it has never happened, but in order to ensure that there is no mistake, the operation will be more cautious.” He introduced that the district and county where he is located is quarantined. For the handling of pets, first consider taking care of their relatives at home or having a place in the isolation area for foster care. If not, community staff will come to help take care of them. If the community cannot take care of them, then consider taking them to the isolation point.
"The isolation point is placed last, because management issues are considered, after all, it is also a risk environment."
Another disease control officer who has been involved in handling too many local epidemics said that the situation involving pets is more complicated and requires classification and consideration and flexibility.
Infected pets are different from close pets. If it is the former, the pets must undergo nucleic acid testing and be isolated separately.
If it is the latter, in most cases, the quarantined person will stay at home, and medical staff will regularly come to carry out nucleic acid tests or be taken care of by community personnel.
If there are fewer pets, this approach is less expensive, but if there are more pets in the community, more manpower must be invested.
If the quarantine is taken to the quarantine point, you need to discuss with the quarantined hotel in advance about pet food and other issues.
Lin Hui introduced that for pets, Daxing District specially arranged a centralized isolation point at that time, and pet owners and pets lived on the same floor.
Liu Jing remembered that the isolation point was well considered, a veterinarian was specially arranged on duty, and pet food was also stored.
The above-mentioned disease control personnel stated that in general, pet handling can be discussed with the street, and it will not go to the point of direct culling.
The Jiangxi Shangrao incident may still lie in the person responsible for handling the incident.
At present, the composition of epidemic prevention personnel is relatively complicated, and not all of them are of professional background. It is not ruled out that individual employees at the grassroots level lack quality knowledge, consider one-sidedness, and choose the simplest way to deal with problems.
At present, there is no uniform regulation on pet handling, and the contingency is relatively large.
Take into account science, humanity, and animal protection
At present, some cities have tried to dispose of pets.
According to public reports, Shanghai’s Huangpu District allows residents to bring their pets into quarantine; Beijing’s Daxing District allows one person to stay at home to take care of their pets, or to bring their pets to quarantine; Chengdu’s high-tech zone, Chengdu’s high-tech zone, accepts the home care of the disease control personnel’s pets; Beijing According to regulations in Changping District of Shanghai, people in quarantine do not bring pets, and citizens can choose to be fed by volunteers or raised by the government.
However, there is still a gap in the treatment of positive pets, and there are few cases.
According to Jin Dongyan, Hong Kong’s approach is that if a pet dog or cat in the home of an infected person tests positive, the pet will be taken to a special animal quarantine station, which will be managed by the relevant agricultural department, and the pet will be tested in an isolation place. The nucleic acid test will be negative for three consecutive times. Later, you can return to the owner.
He believes that there is no reason to culling uninfected animals, and even if pets are infected, it is not necessary to kill them.
According to the above-mentioned disease control personnel, according to the "Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Law", infected poultry and livestock will be culled to prevent the spread of the disease.
Pets do not have much contact with the outside world and are closely connected with human emotions. If there is a special place to isolate pets, it is also feasible to achieve the purpose of not spreading.
However, there is still a lack of special pet isolation points. In some animal breeding bases, animals live in single cages, but the cages cannot achieve the effect of virus isolation, which may cause cross-infection.
He believes that the epidemic is still prevalent globally. For many pet families, this is a question that needs to be answered. A third party can be considered to intervene to carry out related isolation services under the premise of obtaining permission and effective supervision.
Jin Dongyan believes that the number of infected people in my country is small, and positive for cats and dogs is even rarer. Special cases can be considered. Agricultural departments or relevant epidemic prevention departments provide facilities suitable for pet isolation. These departments also have the professional ability to deal with animal infectious diseases. This is a balance. Scientific, humane, and spiritual approach to animal protection.
Guo Peng said that epidemic prevention and control and animal protection can be balanced.
However, the prevention and control work is carried out at the sub-district and community levels. At present, it is still necessary for the decision-making department to issue a unified and detailed guidance plan, which will be issued to relevant departments at all levels and the grass-roots neighborhood communities for implementation in accordance with regulations.
Recently, the China Small Animal Protection Association, other animal protection organizations have launched a call for the establishment of a nationwide pet isolation system.
Pet owners who are confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia, suspected cases or asymptomatic infections, pets should be isolated and observed.
The local area should develop an unattended pet transfer process and isolation management plan.
After obtaining the consent of the pet owner, the local animal epidemic prevention department will cooperate with the pet transfer work, and a third-party professional institution (such as an animal diagnosis and treatment institution or an animal fostering institution) in the isolation area can be entrusted to conduct isolation care and regular testing.
If there is no such institution, an isolated breeding place can be set up in the isolation area, and a dedicated person can be arranged for regular feeding.
After a period of quarantine, the animals will be tested to see if they carry the new coronavirus. If not, they will need to return to their normal living conditions.
Those who have a positive nucleic acid test on the body surface of the pet will be handed over to a professional pet medical institution for isolation and observation, and wait for it to turn negative naturally.
If pet owners need to quarantine for medical observation, it is recommended that pets should be quarantined together with the pet owner, or one person should be kept at home to take care of the pets while ensuring that all epidemic prevention measures are in place.
At the end of the prescribed quarantine period, if the pet owner and pet are tested negative, they should return to normal living conditions.
Beijing News reporter Dai Xuan