Until now, the consumption of their meat was not illegal, but it remains extremely minority and arouses growing opposition from the Chinese population.
It's no secret that cats and dogs are eaten by a minority of Chinese people. But for the first time, China has temporarily excluded them from the official list of edible animals, Beijing announced on Wednesday. The text is subject to comments until May 8.
The list, published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, lists a list of animals that can be raised for meat, fur or for medical purposes. Dogs and cats are not among them.
It should be remembered that the consumption of their meat is not illegal in China, but it remains extremely minority and arouses growing opposition from the population.
"This is the first time that the Chinese government has stipulated that cats and dogs are pets and not intended for consumption", the American Humane Society International (HSI) said in a statement on Thursday.
"With the progress of human civilization and the public concern and preference for the protection of animals, dogs have moved from traditional domestic animals to pets. Dogs are generally not considered to be livestock and poultry all over the world, and China shouldn't handle it like cattle and poultry either, "adds HSI.
"Pets have never been part of the mainstream in China, and it is certain that most people in China want to stop the theft of their pets for a meat trade in which only a small percentage of the population indulges. Each year, tens of millions of dogs and cats, mostly stolen pets, suffer for the meat trade which is almost entirely fueled by crime and, what is possibly the most important at the moment, constitutes an undeniable threat to human health with the risk of diseases such as rabies and cholera ", concludes the association.
Ten million dogs killed each year in China
The organization estimates that 10 million dogs are killed each year in China for their meat. Thousands of canines are slaughtered during the dog meat festival in Yulin (south), in conditions deemed cruel by animal advocates, the quadrupeds being beaten to death or even scalded alive.
The move comes after a ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals in February, a suspected practice in the spread of the new coronavirus. The wildlife trade was also banned during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) crisis in 2002-2003, a coronavirus whose transmission had also been linked to the consumption of wild animals. But this trade had quickly resumed.