The Ministry of Agriculture removes dogs from domestic animals. Is it happy or worried?


On April 8, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the "National Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources (Draft for Comment)" to remove dogs from livestock.
The Ministry of Agriculture is also afraid that the description of the category of dogs to be removed from the catalog is not clear enough. It deliberately explained in Article 3, Section 5 of the "Explanation on the National Catalogue of Animal Genetic Resources (Draft for Comment)": "As human civilization With progress and the public’s attention and preference for animal protection, dogs have been "specialized" from traditional livestock to companion animals. They are generally not used as livestock and poultry in the world, and my country should not be included in livestock management."


What does it mean to remove dogs from domestic animals?
Although the draft issued by the Ministry of Agriculture is only a draft for comments, Chinese pets have been dismissed as “useless” and struggling with their pets as “children’s pets”. For the first time, they can recognize “companion animals” at the official level. The concept is really good news!
In short, can the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture be a key turning point in changing the welfare of domestic small animals?


Contradiction 1: When people's needs cannot be fully satisfied, if the dog is removed from the "Catalogue" and the supply is cut off, it will inevitably result in supply being less than demand, causing the black market to overflow and intensify contradictions. With the custom of eating dog meat in many provinces across the country, the demand will not drop in a short period of time. If the dog is removed from the "Catalogue", it will inevitably bring great difficulties to legal dog meat producers, resulting in less dog meat supply. Prices have risen, underground black markets have appeared, and dog thefts will become more frequent.


Contradiction 2:
The controversial dog meat festival is still held every year. Despite being criticized in recent years, thousands of dogs have been slaughtered for consumption at the Dog Meat Festival, and eating dog meat is still regarded as a traditional culture in certain areas. There is no corresponding law in China to restrict the eating of dog meat. Only a few cities have issued local regulations prohibiting the consumption of cats and dogs.


Contradiction three:
The "Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the total prohibition of illegal wildlife trade, elimination of abuse of wild animals, and effective protection of the people's health and safety" mainly supervise two issues. One is to define a prohibited object and scope. That is, terrestrial wild animals for food, and the second is to establish a positive white list. Dogs were removed from the whitelist and were not included in the banned list. They are in an embarrassing situation where eating is not prohibited and large-scale breeding is not promoted.
Therefore, many media have come to the conclusion that the country will ban dog meat, which is just a good vision. Moreover, even if it is possible to ban dog meat throughout the country, the establishment of the law is one aspect, and at the same time it must be strongly enforced to truly talk about the protection of pet dogs.