Do you need special legislation to prohibit cruelty to animals?
The frequent occurrence of animal cruelty is currently only regarded as a loss of morality
● Animal cruelty and dissemination of animal cruelty pictures and videos, whether it is personal, organized, or industrialized, are essentially violent behaviors and have a toxic effect on the entire society
● Although domestic experts and scholars continue to call for the enactment of anti-animal cruelty laws, my country’s market economy, social system, and human environment are different from those of other countries. Under the premise that the anti-animal cruelty has reached a social consensus, there is a greater need for legislation on animal cruelty. dispute
● Animal protection issues involve multiple complex factors such as industry development, ethnic customs, religious customs, ethics and morals, and comprehensively improving the level of animal protection will still be an arduous and long-term systematic task that requires the joint efforts of the whole society
□ reporter Wang Yang
□ Our newspaper trainee reporter Bai Chuxuan
Recently, a netizen broke the news that a man in Guang'an, Sichuan abused a dog with a knife at 3 am and sent the video to a local dog-walking group.
In the video, a big white dog crouched in a corner with a puddle of blood flowing under his feet, and a man kept barking at the dog.
According to the veterinarian, the dog was stabbed in two carotid arteries, one in the back of the head, and one in his jaw. He suffered several shocks and was rescued by blood transfusion.
The next day, the police intervened.
Later, the man cried and apologized in the video, saying that the dog was out of danger and he regretted it now.
In fact, incidents like cruelty to animals are not isolated cases.
A live broadcast of cat abuse on an online platform attracts attention, and cats are boiled in a pot of boiling water... Many incidents have been cruel, and animal abuse incidents have always attracted public attention.
A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" noticed that cruel abuses against animals have occurred from time to time. While harming animals, they also caused mental harm to the public. They have been condemned in morality and public opinion.
Many countries also have specific laws or specific legal provisions against animal cruelty.
According to industry insiders, although domestic experts and scholars continue to call for the enactment of anti-animal cruelty laws, my country’s market economy, social system, and human environment are different from other countries. Under the premise that a social consensus has been reached against animal cruelty, whether to respond to animal cruelty There is a big controversy about legislation.
Abandonment of animals frequently occurs
Violence poisons the entire society
The so-called abuse refers to "treating certain people or things with brutal and vicious means."
In response to the physical abuse of animals, it is also commonly understood that the abuse of animals by cruel means is commonly understood. "Skinning a living body," "Eating monkey brains raw," "Getting bear bile alive", etc., are all manifestations of animal cruelty.
Cruelty to animals has not happened in recent years.
As early as 2012, a woman in Shanghai adopted a cat and went home to perform various abuses for fun. After the incident, she was surrounded by many cat lovers, and posters denounced cat abuse were posted at the door of her house.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily learned that there are two types of animal cruelty: active cruelty and passive cruelty.
Stomping on high heels, burning with fire and other acts of cruelty to animals are active cruelty; passive cruelty is usually due to neglect and improper care of pets, such as dehydration, hunger, and unsuitable living environment for animals.
Searching on the Internet with "animal cruelty" as the keyword, you can see many news about active animal cruelty.
In November 2019, some netizens broke the news that the boarding officer of Ningbo Transportation Technical School in Zhejiang Province threw a dog from the balcony in front of the students and died.
In January 2020, a video of "Chongqing Scenic Area Opens for Pig Bungee Jumping" was spread online.
In the video, a 75 kg pig was tied up with its limbs and put on a blue cloak and pushed off the bungee jumping platform. In September, in a rice noodle shop in Yubei District, Chongqing, a boy carrying a schoolbag abused the pet cat in the store after the theft. She fell and kicked several times; in October, in Taiyuan, Shanxi, a pregnant female cat scalded with boiling water by a man died after being sent to the hospital for treatment. The four kittens that had formed in her belly did not survive. Come down.
These cruel animal abuse incidents make people unbearable to look directly at them, and some perpetrators even use animal abuse videos for profit.
Earlier, some netizens broke the news that Wang Mouhuan, a 2019 student of Yantai Nanshan College, Shandong, cruelly abused cats and filled the cat's limbs with toothpicks. In the video, the cat made a terrible cry.
In a rescue group, the student asked his friends to give 70 yuan to avoid cat death, and claimed that he killed 8 cats in one day.
In addition, many media reported that on second-hand trading platforms such as Xianyu, sellers made profits by selling different types of animal cruelty videos at different prices, forming a "customized sales" industry chain.
Legal scholar Liang Zhiping said in an interview with the media that the behavior of cruelty to animals and the dissemination of pictures and videos of cruelty to animals, whether it is personal, organized, or industrialized, is essentially violent and is poisonous to the entire society. effect.
Out of respect for the value of life, but also out of the protection of people, especially minors, resolutely opposing abuse of kinetics should become a social consensus.
Cruelty to animals is only morally condemned
The actual investigation and handling of cases vary
After every incident of animal cruelty, there is a public discussion about animal cruelty and animal cruelty legislation.
"In the face of endless animal abuse incidents, what else can we do" is a question that has been mentioned in many discussions.
At present, while ethical condemnation of animal cruelty, civil forces are also exploring in practice.
For example, in life, there are often caring people or animal protection associations on their own or with the assistance of local public security management agencies to rescue small animals that have been abused from the hands of abusers and send them to hospitals in time.
In addition, there are civil punishments against animal abusers, and "human flesh searches" against perpetrators often occur.
After the incident occurred, the perpetrator of the "boiling water and pouring cat" incident in Taiyuan, Shanxi, was terminated by his employer.
He received all kinds of wreaths and shrouds from netizens at his home in Fenyang, Shanxi.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily found that animal cruelty incidents that have caused widespread concern on the Internet often lead to the intervention of public power, but the reasons for handling the cases vary.
As early as January and February 2002, Liu Haiyang, a senior at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology of Tsinghua University, used caustic soda solution and sulfuric acid solution to feed and dump black bears and brown bears at the Beijing Zoo. One black bear and two brown bears (both belong to national second-level protected animals) suffered varying degrees of damage.
After the incident, the People's Procuratorate of Xicheng District, Beijing filed a public prosecution against Liu Haiyang for the crime of deliberately destroying property. The court finally sentenced Liu Haiyang for the crime of deliberately destroying property and exempted him from criminal punishment.
In March 2018, after the “suspicious demand for remuneration and falling dead puppy” occurred in Chengdu, Sichuan, the four people were sentenced to 7 days of administrative detention by the Longquan Branch of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau for using the Internet to spread the private information of the abuser. .
In August 2020, Pudong police investigated and dealt with the first case of dog abandonment by a dog owner in Shanghai.
According to the "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Dog Breeding Management", the Pudong police fined Wu, the owner of a yellow small crossbreed dog, who abandoned his old age, and imposed a fine of 500 yuan, revoked the "Dog Breeding Registration Certificate" and received administrative penalties for dogs.
In September 2020, a puppy in Beijing was abandoned in plaster. The whole body was covered with plaster and quick-sticking powder. The eyes were not spared. The tail and paws were broken, and the paws were still stained with blood.
On September 17, the Qinghe Police Department of the Haidian Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau handled the case of abandonment of the gypsum dog.
Legislation on animal cruelty in many countries
There is a dispute over whether or not my country should be sentenced
From the perspective of judicial practice, the existing laws and regulations will be used to combat trafficking, killing, and theft.
For example, the theft of animals can follow the suspected crime of theft, and the trafficking of animals can follow the suspected crime of illegal transportation, illegal trading and other legal provisions.
As for a single animal cruelty, there is basically no corresponding legal provision, which is blank in my country's criminal law.
Many people have called for the use of criminal law to curb animal cruelty. It is recommended that the crime of animal cruelty should be added to my country's criminal law to demonstrate my country's firm position in promoting animal welfare and maintaining ecological harmony.
CCTV News once launched a poll on Weibo on whether the prohibition of animal cruelty should be enacted as soon as possible. Among the 299,000 people who participated, about 283,000 people expressed support, and about 11,000 people did not support it.
Some netizens questioned in their comments: "Why is it so difficult to enact a law to stop evil?"
Some netizens also said: "The welfare of humans has not been solved, but the welfare of animals is solved?"
According to the American Humanitarian Association, nearly 1 million animals are abused or killed in domestic violence incidents every year.
Looking at the world, many countries already have laws or clear legal provisions specifically against animal cruelty.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily reported that the world's first anti-animal cruelty bill was born in the United Kingdom.
There are more than 10 laws on animal protection in the UK, including the Animal Protection Law, Pet Law, Veterinary Law, Animal Abandonment Act and Animal Boarding Act.
Germany stipulates that abandoning animals will face high fines, and cruelty to animals will lead to jail.
In France, small animals have their own ID cards.
Japan stipulates that killing animals without authorization will be sentenced.
In recent years, some regions of our country have begun to try to pass legislation to oppose animal cruelty.
Article 30 of the "Beijing Animal Epidemic Prevention Regulations" promulgated on May 23, 2014 stipulates that animal breeders should not abandon or abuse their animals.
Article 11 of the "Regulations on Dog Raising Management of Qingdao" promulgated on April 28, 2016 stipulates that it is prohibited to abandon, abuse or slaughter dogs.
Article 26 of the "Changsha Dog Management Regulations" approved on September 30, 2018 stipulates that no unit or individual may abuse dogs.
Article 21 of the "Ningbo Dog Management Regulations" promulgated on March 26, 2020 stipulates that one of the behavioral norms that dog owners should abide by is not to abandon or abuse their dogs.
Hu Gongqun, a legislative consultant for the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, said that among the people, those who abuse animals are increasingly being condemned by the public. Such condemnation itself is also a kind of civilized progress.
Although the country does not have clear legal sanctions, this kind of near-ethical condemnation from the public will also serve as a warning and warning.
However, condemnation and crusade are still inferior to the law, and such an endless stream of incidents should be taken seriously by the legislature.
However, some experts said that my country has not adopted a stance of comprehensive protection of animals in legislation, and the crime of cruelty to animals lacks the necessary legal basis.
Regarding animal cruelty, even if foreign legislation can be used for reference, it should first be considered in administrative laws such as the Public Security Management Punishment Law rather than in the criminal law.
The criminalization of animal cruelty also faces operational difficulties, and the scope of animal cruelty and cruelty are more difficult to define.
In response to incidents of animal cruelty and dissemination of information on animal cruelty from time to time, we can often see proposals against animal cruelty at the two sessions each year:
In 2015, NPC deputy Zheng Xiaohe called for the formulation of an animal protection law to crack down on the illegal industry chain for cats and dogs; NPC deputy Luo Shenglian suggested the formulation of a law to prevent cruelty to animals, and suggested that the law on public security management and punishment should be amended as soon as possible before legislation Animal behavior is included in the scope of punishment.
In 2018, NPC deputy Luo Shenglian proposed in an interview with the media that the formulation of an animal protection law should be included in the legislative plan as soon as possible, and a law to protect animals should be formulated from the perspective of respecting life.
At the two sessions this year, Wang Wei, deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested that animal cruelty and related behaviors should be included in the scope of the law on public security management and punishment.
NPC deputy Mai Shirui said that in accordance with my country’s current laws, there is a legal gap in animal cruelty. It is recommended that an anti-animal cruelty law be formulated to specify the elements of the crime that constitute animal cruelty, namely subject, object, subjective, and objective. Implement "classified management" and "comprehensive and whole-process protection" for animals.
On September 11, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs responded to the National People’s Congress’s proposal to submit to the National People’s Congress to enact an anti-animal cruelty law or to include animal cruelty and related behaviors into the scope of application of the Public Security Management Punishment Law: Currently, most animal cruelty and killing are acceptable Through adjustments to existing laws and regulations, public security and many other departments are severely cracking down on related illegal and criminal acts.
Cruelty to animals in social life is only a rare phenomenon. More citizens live in harmony with animals. There is no need to formulate a law for this rare violation of morality, and it can basically be achieved by improving existing laws and regulations. solve.
"Our country has a long history of animal utilization, and there are many industries engaged in animal production, processing and utilization. Animal protection issues involve multiple complex factors such as industry development, ethnic customs, religious customs, ethics and morals, and comprehensively improving the level of animal protection will still be a major issue. The arduous and long-term systematic work requires the joint efforts of the whole society." The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs mentioned in the above reply.
Cartography/Gao Yue