Shiba Inu Denden Auction
Reporter of China News Weekly/Zhang Xinyu
Issued in the 1022th issue of China News Weekly on November 29, 2021
At 2:42 pm on November 4, more than 28 hours have passed since the auction began.
After 267 delayed price increases, Shiba Inu Dengdeng was photographed at a price of 160,100 yuan and has a new owner.
The bidding was extremely fierce in the last 5 hours of the auction. The price rose from more than 60,000 yuan to 160,000 yuan, and new bids were made almost every tens of seconds.
In the end, Mr. Shu, who photographed Deng Deng, referred to the 5-hour bidding as "you vie for me."
He clung to the bidding number A9977 and the bidding number M6653. The strategy is to only add 10 yuan to the other party no matter how much the other party adds.
The strategy took effect, A9977 added 10 yuan to M6653's 160,000 yuan bid and finally defeated the opponent.
In the past 7 years, Deng Deng was abandoned by the original owner Xiao Jiabo at the Pet School of the Chong Le Club in Beijing (referred to as "The Chong Le Club"). From one year old to eight years old, the top of his head began to turn white and his back hair was no longer soft.
In 2018, the Chaoyang District Court of Beijing decided to conduct a judicial auction of Deng Deng, which was later suspended for some reason.
In 2021, Chaoyang Court decided to auction it again.
Deng Deng is the first pet dog to be auctioned in China's judicial history. Both auctions have attracted widespread attention. The first auction attracted more than 2,600 applicants, and the second auction attracted nearly 500 applicants.
Mr. Shu came to Beijing from Shenzhen on November 18 to pick up Deng Deng.
He has raised two dogs, a cat, and a little girl who goes to kindergarten and loves animals. This is a family that Wang Aiqiong, the head of the pet club, thinks is a suitable family.
A dog that must be auctioned
According to the "Explanation on the National Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources (Draft for Comment)" (referred to as "Explanation") issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on its official website on April 8, 2020, dogs have been "specialized" from traditional livestock to companion animals. .
The "Explanation" stated that with the progress of human civilization and the public's attention and preference for animal protection, dogs are generally not regarded as livestock and poultry in the world, and my country should not be included in the management of livestock and poultry.
In the past, pet dogs as companion animals have never been the subject of judicial auctions.
An Xiang, director of Beijing Dexiang Law Firm and editor of "China's Current Animal Protection Laws", told China News Weekly that one of the reasons is that dogs will not have a high auction price, and the price is not easy to determine.
In conventional judicial auctions, the court will find the executable property of the person subject to execution through multiple channels, and the auctioned property usually has a higher value in order to realize the litigation rights of the applicant.
But this time, repaying the arrears was not the only purpose of the Chaoyang Court's judicial auction of Dengdeng. The auction of Dengdeng was to help it find a new owner.
On October 5, 2014, Xiao Jiabo sent the boarding to the Chong Le Club and handled the annual renewal service. The foster care fee was delivered to December 19, 2015, totaling 10,000 yuan.
Wang Aiqiong remembered that Xiao Jiabo said at the time that he was going to go abroad and the foster care would be longer.
Prior to this, Xiao Jiabo had put his Shetland sheepdog "Didi" and pastoral dog "Lele" in foster care in the pet club and picked them up on time.
After the expiry of the boarding period, Xiao Jiabo did not show up. His mobile phone number and the mobile phone number of the emergency contact could no longer be communicated.
At the beginning of 2017, Wang Aiqiong realized that Xiao Jiabo could not be contacted at all, so he contacted a lawyer to file a lawsuit.
The Chaoyang Court’s judgment included asking Xiao Jiabo to pick up Deng Deng from the pet school and paying the arrears of foster care at the standard of 60 yuan per day.
But until the verdict of the case on September 5, 2017, Xiao Jiabo still did not appear.
Therefore, the Chaoyang Court decided to conduct a judicial auction of Deng Deng in 2018.
According to Wang Aiqiong's understanding, the court also hopes to find the owner through judicial auction, and "really found it."
When Deng Deng became an Internet celebrity dog on Weibo and was about to be auctioned off on the Ali Judicial Auction Platform, Xiao Jiabo made an overseas phone call to the court.
On the morning of October 31, 2018, the court’s meeting room was crowded with more than a dozen people from the court, pet school, and the media. They heard Xiao Jiabo promised on the phone that he would return to China to pick him up during Christmas.
In addition, Xiao Jiabo also paid off more than 63,000 yuan in arrears.
As the pet school and Xiao Jiabo reached a settlement, Deng Deng's first auction was suspended.
Christmas 2018 came as scheduled, Xiao Jiabo did not come to pick up Deng Deng.
At the beginning of 2019, Wang Aiqiong received a call from a virtual number, and it was Xiao Jiabo.
"He gave a lot of reasons. In short, it was very busy." The number could not be called back. Since then, Xiao Jiabo has lost contact again.
In September 2021, Wang Aiqiong received another call from Chaoyang Court.
One of the original judgments was to let Xiao Jiabo take Dengdeng from the pet school. Xiao Jiabo has never performed his duties. The ownership of Dengdeng still belongs to him. Therefore, the ownership of Dengdeng must be changed through a second auction.
As a result, Deng Deng was again listed on the judicial auction platform on October 18, 2021.
The problem of abandoning pets
In both auctions, Dengdeng's starting price was 500 yuan.
Mr. Shu noticed it when Denden was auctioned for the first time, and followed the story of the original owner’s appearance and the auction was suspended. He did not participate until the end of October 2021 when he received a text message reminding Shiba Inu Denden to be auctioned again. Into this story.
Mr. Shu hopes that this elderly dog can come to him.
He told his mother that Deng Deng carried too much love, hope and kindness.
"I hope this story can stay. I also gave this story to my daughter."
Denden's experience can be a story because someone is actively telling it.
In mid-October 2018, Deng Deng's experience of "paying debts for the Lord" was first publicized by Ali auction and Chaoyang Court on Weibo. Wang Aiqiong remembered that in the days after that, at least four or five groups of people came to see it every day.
Chen Chun, head of Ali Judicial Auction, told China News Weekly that for animal auctions, because it is difficult to find a suitable buyer in a short time, the platform will make some noise to let more people know about it. .
As a companion animal, Deng Deng moved to the source of judicial auctions to be abandoned.
In the pet club and even the whole country, there are many abandoned dogs, but most of them cannot find their owners.
Dai Junfeng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman and secretary-general of the Yunnan Islamic Association, pointed out in March 2021 that stray animals are disordered and difficult to control.
According to data from the China Small Animal Protection Association in 2018, tens of millions of stray dogs are produced in China every year, which brings many social problems.
Since the establishment of Chong Le Club in 2005, three to ten pet dogs raised here have been abandoned by their owners every year.
2008 was the most intensive year of abandonment. More than 20 pet dogs were abandoned. “Some owners lost money by trading in stocks and economic conditions did not allow dogs to be raised. Some were due to job transfers, and some were due to childbirth.” Wang Aiqiong said.
For owners who voluntarily ask to abandon their pets, Wang Aiqiong will ask them to write an abandonment statement.
For the lost master, Wang Aiqiong can only defend his rights through legal channels.
Every three years, Chong Le will save five to six owners who abandon their pets and lose contact, and file a lawsuit together. Many owners will show up at the last minute, pay the arrears and take the dog home.
A lawsuit that is still in progress involves the 7-year-old Golden Retriever "Barton".
In the past, the owner of Barton, who lives on the East Second Ring Road in Beijing, would foster his dog in a pet club as long as he was busy.
In March 2020, Patton began to have frequent fevers, and Chongle only knew that he had cancer after sending him to the hospital. The owner of Patton then blacked out the phone and WeChat of Chongle, and no longer paid dog food fees, boarding fees, and frequent incidents. Six to seven thousand yuan for treatment.
"People can wait, but dogs may not be able to wait anymore." Jia Yuan is the breeder of Deng Deng and Barton. He saw Deng Deng, a dog that could not be idle a few years ago, became a dog who could only sit quietly and watch. People chatting with dogs also watched Barton's physical condition has dropped significantly since last year.
Gao Lihong, a professor at the School of Law of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law and vice president of the Environmental Resources Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, told China News Weekly that foreign countries have cracked down on abandoning animals. Basic clauses, some of the relevant considerations are based on animal welfare, and some are based on the prevention of the risk of zoonotic diseases.
Take the New York State Animal Protection Act as an example. Article 355 of its 2017 amendment stipulates that the owner or holder of the animal, or the person who manages and supervises the animal, abandons the animal or allows it to die on the street, It is a misdemeanor to lie on a road or public place, or let the animal (become) disabled more than three hours after receiving notice, lying on a public street or road, which is punishable by imprisonment of less than one year, single or two thousand Fines below U.S. dollars.
In addition, the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) Sanitation Code, the European Convention for the Protection of Pets, the German Animal Welfare Law, and the Japanese Animal Welfare and Management Law all have provisions that govern abandoned animals.
In China, where abandonment of animals is also common, there is currently no national unified legislation to regulate the behavior of abandoning animals.
An Xiang, the director of Beijing Dexiang Law Firm, said that some local dog-raising management regulations will contain prohibitive regulations that prohibit abuse and abandonment.
For example, the "Tianjin City Dog Management Regulations" clearly stipulates in Article 19(7) that dogs must not be abused or abandoned, but it does not mention penalties for violations of Article 19(7).
How to impose penalties on the behavior of abandoning pets is still a problem.
During the National “Two Sessions” in 2021, Dai Junfeng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggested to improve the registration and approval system and the domestic animal license system, introduce chip technology, register each domestic animal with a chip, and include the guardian’s name, address, and contact information. And other information is imported into the chip, and at the same time connected to the "Citizen Credit Information System", the behavior of abandoning domestic animals is included in the personal bad credit records.
No longer rare animal justice auction
It is the first case that pets have been auctioned off judicially due to abandonment, and it is more and more common for animals to be subject to judicial auctions.
An Xiang, director of Beijing Dexiang Law Firm, said that when the person being enforced is a farm or herder, their main property is often animals, so the animals will be auctioned as the subject of execution.
Chen Chun, the head of Ali Judicial Auction, said that the auction procedures for animals are basically the same as those for auctions of real estate and automobiles. They are all seizures, freezing of property, property valuation, auction, and transfer of property rights. It is only because animals need to move and eat. , Being taken care of, so it will adopt the form of "live seal" and be kept by the person subject to enforcement or related parties.
The first animal lot that appeared on the Ali Judicial Auction Platform was 11,146 live pigs auctioned by the Yixing City Court in Jiangsu in May 2014.
This batch of lots includes boars, sows, piglets and other types of live pigs. Only two people signed up for the auction, but the two parties made 46 bids within 16 minutes. The final transaction price was 4.6 million yuan, which was 1.3 million yuan higher than the starting price. .
Another animal lot that has attracted attention is the 6 golden dragon fish auctioned by the Suzhou Industrial Park court in Jiangsu in June 2014, including 3 red dragon varieties and 3 golden dragon high-back varieties.
At that time, Jiangsu Yinning Guarantee Co., Ltd. owed 39 employees nearly one million yuan in salary. The executive judge found 6 arowanas in the company lobby when checking the company’s property, and decided to repay some of the employees’ debts through judicial auctions.
The estimated price of this batch of Arowana reached 53,000 yuan and was sold at 70,000 yuan.
In August 2017, China ushered in the first online judicial auction of live wild animals. The auction object was 372 sika deer.
As Suzhou Shuangyang Deer Company defaulted on land rent and land use fees, and failed to find a suitable site for sika deer domestication, the People's Court of Gusu District, Suzhou City decided to conduct a judicial auction of these sika deer.
Since then, sika deer lots have appeared on the Ali Judicial Auction platform many times. The most recent sale was 84 sika deer auctioned on January 14, 2021.
Yuan Yu, a judge of the Shicheng County Court of Jiangxi Province, who undertook the case, told China News Weekly that the court first auctioned off the property of the person being enforced, but the property failed to auction and the other properties were mortgaged, so he decided to The sika deer domesticated by the executors will be auctioned off for justice.
One of the difficulties of judicial auction of animals is valuation, because most animals do not have a uniform market price, and their growth will also affect the price.
Yuan Yu said that the Shicheng County Court invited a professional asset appraisal agency to conduct an on-site appraisal in September 2020, and only then determined the starting price of 390,000 yuan.
The starting price of 500 yuan for Dengdeng was determined by the Chaoyang Court based on its breed, age, and physical condition after consulting with relevant pet agencies in order to be convenient and efficient and to save the cost of the parties.
Judicial auctions of animals also often encounter unsold situations, especially for national first-class protected animals such as sika deer.
Yuan Yu said that the Shicheng County Court's first auction of 84 sika deer was unsuccessful, so the court lowered the starting price to 312,000 yuan, and the second auction was finally sold for 318,000 yuan.
In the 2017 online judicial auction of 372 sika deer, both the first and second auctions were lost. The sika deer was later sold for more than 1.722 million yuan.
Chen Chun said that if the animal judicial auction fails to be completed in the first, second, and sale, it may allow the two parties to negotiate and implement the debt by means of repayment.
Protect animal welfare by law
The Chaoyang Court worried that Deng Deng, as an Internet celebrity dog, would trigger malicious bidding behavior, so it specifically reminded in the bidding announcement that bidders must not bid maliciously.
Deng Deng's breeder Jia Yuan has another concern.
"Online publicity is too big, and I worry that it will be taken away by Internet celebrity agencies. Deng Deng is 8 years old and can't afford to always shoot or let it be used for eating and broadcasting." He said.
Professor Gao Lihong of the School of Law of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law said that although there is less emphasis on animal welfare protection in judicial auctions abroad, it does not mean that there is no need to pay attention to animal welfare in the auction process. The welfare protection scope of the basic legal norms covers the auction process.
In Taiwan, China, the animal welfare law stipulates that "the use of violence, improper electric shocks to drive animals, or the use of knives and other harmful methods during transportation, auctions, mooring, etc., to drive animals, or to mark them with harmful means such as knives" is prohibited.
An Xiang, director of Beijing Dexiang Law Firm, said that in the current domestic judicial auctions, animals are treated as general objects, and the protection is mainly from the perspective of property value, and there are no more special regulations on life.
Before the auction of 84 sika deer at the Shicheng County Court in Jiangxi, Judge Yuan Yu went to the entity to conduct four or five inspections. Each time it took a day to take separate photos and videos of the sika deer scattered in nine cages and record the state of the sika deer. Make sure that the parties have maintained the sika deer.
When Yuan Yu recorded for the first time, he observed that two sika deer were ill. They became more and more ill in subsequent records and eventually died.
For animal auctions under special circumstances, the court will require bidders to have corresponding qualifications.
In the 2017 auction of 372 sika deer, the Gusu District Court of Suzhou City pointed out that the domestication and reproduction of sika deer must obtain a national key protected wild animal domestication and reproduction license issued by the forestry department. The person must show the original license.
In Dengdeng’s auction, Beijing’s Chaoyang District Court did not impose any qualification requirements on Dengdeng’s bidders.
An Xiang said that the current law does not require the qualifications of bidders in pet dog auctions. In this case, requiring the court to restrict the qualifications of bidders during auctions will infringe on the rights and interests of creditors.
However, An Xiang also said that if there is a law that clarifies what kind of people do and what corresponding normative behaviors on a legal basis, they can bid for it. This will balance the rights of creditors and the welfare of dogs as animals. .
However, the premise is that the law clearly delineates which animals have which welfare, or what boundaries should be placed on human behavior towards animals.
"The laws of a mature country must continue to develop from a more benign and tender perspective." An Xiang said.
China News Weekly, Issue 44, 2021
Statement: The publication of the "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing