Animal Wellness Action
PETITION: STOP Chinese Wet Markets, STOP Eating Dogs and Cats, and STOP the Bear Bile Industry!

UPDATE June 16, 2020: Just weeks after the Chinese government made it illegal to sell dog meat for human consumption, the horrifying Yulin dog meat festival looks poised to go ahead this weekend.  The global outcry to the yearly massacre was no doubt a factor in China's announcement to remove dogs from its livestock registry in May. But now, we must demand they enforce the law that makes it illegal for restaurants, slaughterhouses, and markets to sell dogs. They must stop the killing in Yulin.  Please join Animal Wellness Action's collective voice:

SIGN our petition to add your name to our letter to the Ambassador of China. The country's leaders must stop the sale of live wildlife for food and potions, outlaw eating dogs and cats, and phase out using captive bears for bile extraction from their gall bladders as a matter of humane treatment and public health.

Here's our letter to the Ambassador:

The Honorable Cui Tiankai

Ambassador to the United States

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

 

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

 

China's "wet markets" launched COVID-19 and it's now landed all over the world.

 

Your government has promoted these so-called “wet markets” for many decades and allowed these open-air enterprises featuring the sale of wild animals to flourish, and that policy has created a global catastrophe.

 

In 2002, SARS also infected a person at a wet market in China, triggering an earlier pandemic. In its wake, China pledged to shut down its wet markets. That pledge was reneged on, and consequently, the coronavirus emerged.

 

China has a rapidly growing animal welfare movement and consciousness about caring for nature and conservation. To that end, we hope you will address several major concerns of Chinese citizens and other concerned people around the world by:

 

CLOSING wet markets offering wild animals for sale and enforce that law, immediately and permanently. Pledging to end wet markets but not backing up that promise sets us up for new micro-biological catastrophes.

 

ENFORCING the reclassification of dogs as pets and barring the sale of dogs and cats for human consumption at meat markets and other settings. These animals are also sold at squalid, overcrowded markets, and it is a betrayal of our bonds with these domesticated animals.  

 

PHASING out bear farms, where bears are held as captives with bile extracted from their gall bladders. Some Chinese officials have called for the use of bile to treat patients with COVID-19. That prescription has the effect of promoting wildlife exploitation at a time when China should move away from commerce that undermines animal welfare and conservation imperatives.

 

We know most Chinese are concerned about the well-being of animals. But a small percentage of citizens — involved in the wild trade as hunters, transporters, dealers, and consumers — are undermining public health, animal welfare, and conservation.  Its worst manifestations are turning the world's economy upside down.

 

A sound economy is grounded on compassionate concern for all animals.

 

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle


President

Animal Wellness Action

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