Mao Zedong may have viewed them as a bourgeois luxury, but the number of pets in China is increasing. An estimated 116 million cats and dogs share homes with humans in Chinese cities. It is not always clear who is holding the leash. At a recent animal show in Shanghai, you could buy spa equipment for cats and prom dresses for dogs, among other things. According to analysts, young people are increasingly preferring "hairy babies" to newborns.Last year, China's pet industry grew by 25%.
The attention given to these four-legged friends is also shown in other ways. NGOs have set up rescue and adoption centers in cities. Recently, people using kayaks rescued dozens of cats and dogs during a flood near Beijing, an expression of concern for animal life that would have embarrassed many Chinese a generation ago. Activists have urged the government to pass legislation to end cruelty to animals and ban the trade in dog meat, which only a small segment of the population eats.Some progress has been made in these areas.
Overall, the animal welfare situation in China remains grim. It's an enigma. In many affluent societies, Chinese "house parents" come across as nerdy as animal lovers, and are equally convinced that their furry companions have distinct personalities. Just ask Liu Fan, a 25-year-old from the Shanghai Animal Fair, who takes her cat to the beach to watch the sunrise.But when it comes to farm animals -- including pigs, a smarter breed of cats and dogs -- China's strict animal welfare standards are often just as cruel as those of much poorer countries, where the notion that animals have feelings and rights is an unthinkable luxury. Opinion polls and consumer behavior show that one reason for continued abuse on farms and slaughterhouses is widespread public indifference to such atrocities, even among owners of drugged pets.
As is so often the case, this has a huge impact because China is so big. While the Chinese lag far behind Westerners in per capita consumption of meat and fish, China is among the countries with the largest livestock populations. Food safety concerns have led to improvements in the way large farms are run.However, little has been done to improve animal welfare. On a scale from A (excellent) to G (poor), the London-based lobby group World Animal Protection gives China a G for farm animal welfare (UK D, America E).
Western farms are not a safe haven, but in many places sentiment has turned against the practices still prevalent in China. Animals on Chinese farms can be slaughtered without prior stunning. Chickens are often housed in narrow wire cages.Pigs are increasingly being kept in huge facilities. Critics argue that this increases the risk of epidemics and mass killings, and that poor standards encourage transmission of animal diseases to humans.