RELATED: In China pets detract from a leader’s image. The opposite is true in America.
This is an extraordinary development by normal standards but, without wishing to be overly critical, it seems to be entirely in line with animal welfare attitudes in China; a country where there are no general animal welfare laws and where animals are often treated as objects as is blatantly evident in this video which might surprise you or even shock you and it certainly has sparked outrage even in China among those citizens who are more sensitive towards animal welfare.
As you can see in the video, this is an unmanned vending machine selling living, sentient creatures such as cats and small dogs. I’m told by an online website that these machines are installed in various cities in China and the videos have gone viral as at May 2024.
As mentioned, the report is that there’s been a backlash among the general public. But in the first paragraph I stated that there is a generally poor attitude towards animal welfare in China. The statements conflict. But I think not because there is, thankfully, some grassroot optimism in China concerning animal welfare.
It’s probably because the Internet has gradually fed its way into Chinese life and on the Internet, there are lots of websites and articles concerning wildlife conservation and animal welfare generally. These are being picked up by Chinese citizens resulting in a slight shift in behaviour. There are still these vending machines in China which look out of place and so ridiculous. To treat living creatures as inanimate objects as this vending machine is, is entirely unacceptable to any reasonably-minded person.
In the UK for instance this concept would not have been dreamed of. No one would have thought of it as it is so abnormal and clearly unacceptable. If a British citizen dumped one of these machines in the high street with cats in it, he’d be arrested for animal cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. I’d expect the same to happen in most developed countries. This device is a symptom of a very bad attitude towards animal welfare.
As you can see in the video, cats are sleeping in small compartments barely large enough for them to move around in with a transparent door on the front. Apparently it was the first such machine selling live pets in China but some citizens pointed out that they had seen similar displays in various other cities in the country.
There are even adverts promoting these machines. The animals in the video don’t appear to be in ill health but there are reports that some animals have died in these machines and certainly some of them are sick. It wouldn’t surprise anybody to understand that placing cats and small dogs in these machines is likely to result in ill health depending upon how long they are placed in them. But in any case, the whole concept is beyond one’s imagination.
The development of his machines and their construction originates in an attitude which is anathema to mine; an animal advocate. And this would apply to any animal advocate. You cannot think it acceptable to do what we see in the video. Not in the 21st century. Clearly, it’s okay in China at the moment but I will predict that in the not too far future there will be some fundamental changes in China concerning animal welfare and hopefully these sorts of machines will be shut down.
RELATED: Is China trying to produce animal serial killers?!
