Animal Treatment in China

I get the idea that recently that people weren't collectively overjoyed about the President of China coming for a visit to the UK. 

This made me think. Its hard to know what actually goes on in other countries if you've not been there personally. I don't know much about the history of human rights in China- more of what I've read has been about how animals are treated.

Such as stories of dogs being boiled alive and cats being beaten, also still alive, to create a 'better' product. I've heard the quote from a Chef in Guangzhou who said "the worse you treat them, the better they taste". But I've not experienced these things first-hand so I'll refrain from comment.

Instead, I decided to take advantage of being a British citizen in China, witnessing how animals are treated, and report on instances I have personally seen since I've been here.

Keeping cats on leashes.
Just another sight around town that I would describe as 'odd'

Recently the school I work at had a trip to a farm. Thankfully, parents/guardians were asked to accompany their children, as they are preschool age. This lightened the burden of a school trip significantly, but I still went home feeling stressed due to seeing poorly treated animals during the day.

There was an animal petting attraction which I thought sounded like fun when I heard about it. I imagined animals having an area to wander free so that they could be happy despite having to put up with the zombie-like grabbing hands of little children. Instead, the animals were restrained by short ropes and had developed, unsurprisingly, a moody temperament.

This goat did not speak. If it did,
I'm sure it would be saying:
"I'm having a shit time"

A child came up to the school Principal and I, looking very pleased with himself; he wanted to show us something. What he had was a baby chick that his grandmother had just bought him right there at the farm. I was initially surprised that they'd be sold to anyone who'd want them... I wondered if there was any guidance given on how to look after them? Then my thoughts moved to the fact that most people live in flats, and that it was not an ideal environment for such a pet.

He was running around with it, waving the poor thing about like a toy whilst it cheeped. I guess the boy can't really be blamed. If parents, or in this case, his grandmother, don't teach that animals aren't toys, its no wonder that the kids have no clue. As I am a non-Chinese speaking member of the school, there's only so much I can do to explain that creatures need to be treated with respect.

The child was happy, the chick was not.

There was also a boy who's mother had bought him a terrapin, sold in the same cramped cage. I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that this new pet was bought on a whim and is not likely to get the sort of amphibian tank, controlled temperature or food that would be best for it.

Am I mental in thinking that's the sort of care it should get, or are you and I on the same page? 

On the coach back to school, the four year old that the terrapin now belonged to was standing p in his seat. This is normal in China, so that was of little surprise. What did catch my was that he was turning the cage upside down and shaking it.

His pet even fell out when the lid of his cage came off. I ended up looking after it for the journey, so that it could at least have a peaceful trip. What awaited this animal after the coach journey, I can't be sure, but I could not bear to watch it happen and do nothing on the coach. Keep in mind that the parents were here too, but they did not care what was happening. Somewhere else on the bus, the chick was chirping in distress.

"You've got to say to yourself, Its just China" the Principal of the school said to me when he registered my disgust. I think his point wasn't that it's ok, but rather there's little we can do to change the minds of such a large nation. 

I know that I am making assumptions here: that the pets won't be looked after well and that not much thought had been given to the fact that they are living creatures with feelings. I am not trying to be negative about the situation, or rude. I'm just trying to be realistic.

Goldfish, huddling to evade capture.
They are the orange wash in the middle of the pool.

I've heard it said in China that animals are treated so badly because they are not intelligent... but these fish seem clued up.

A popular activity at the farm was fishing, where children could buy a small vessel filled with water, rent a net and try to catch some goldfish. There was no limit to how many you were allowed to catch, and it seemed many youngsters got carried away, netting many fish and piling them on top of each other.

A good haul at the fishing game.
How many will survive the trip home though?

I can understand this, children probably saw it as a fun activity or a challenge. Catch what you can, compete with your friends! Part of me reasoned or assumed that the parents would let their children keep a few, rather than a whole squirming tankful. I was incorrect about that though.

It does not even look like fish in there!

I did a bit of a shoddy undercover job here in my picture taking, but I was really quite appalled that a parent had allowed his child to keep so many fish in the tiny tank. There must have been 15 to 20 in there from what I saw. I would have hoped that a responsible adult would reason that such treatment is unfair, regardless of whether they knew that so many fish in a little space would result in them poisoning themselves with their own waste material. 

Maybe the reality that fish can't live long without clean water is a little known fact. This picture of fish my local supermarket seems to suggest so.

Fish at various stages of death

A pet is something to love and care for, yet from what I've seen, the prospects don't look good. If that's the life that pets are afforded,  it does worry me to think about animals which are raised for human consumption. I haven't had much first-hand experience of this of course, because in shops the animals are already dead and packaged. Though there are live fish, other than the ones above, that are for eating. (Actually one of the fish above isn't alive.)

The idea of fresh fish is appealing for many, but I have felt sorry for fish in those small tanks, waiting to be killed. Having seen them many times at the supermarket, it was not until recently I observed what happened when one was selected.

A customer raised a fish out of the water and handed the net to the fishmonger so it could be killed and priced up. The fishmonger then hit the net on the floor, and at this point I had stopped my shopping and was staring (rudely, I'm sure) at the process in motion. The blow stunned the fish and he placed it into some weighing scales. He then checked the size and printed a ticket with the price, even though the fish was alive and twitching, presumably in pain.  He then gutted the animal. He may have cut its throat before doing that, but I didn't see it for definite.

I admit that I've not seen fish killed in other parts of the world, so this may be standard practice. Regardless, I think a quick death first, and calculating its worth second, would be more fair.

Hens were unable to move out of the
right side of this cage.
There were seven in there.

I feel like I see it everywhere. In a nearby grocery store, I was buying some vegetables because I wanted to support the locals. At the back, but in plain view, were a group of chickens squashed into a little cage.

The most annoying thing is there were many other cages free they could at least have given them room to take a few steps. As I looked at the chickens, and back to the vegetables, piled on top of each other, I wondered 'do people see any difference in the two, or are they both just commodities, to sell and make money from?'

I appreciate that each country's present day views is a product of its past, and that each country's history varies greatly. In very recent times, between 1959 and 1961, there was a terrible famine in China where millions of people died. I didn't know it was that serious until I looked it up. The Chinese Government announced that 15 million people died in those three years due to starvation, and other sources estimate that the Government was talking shit masking the truth and that up to 76 million deahs was more accurate. I can't comprehend what a desperate time that must have been and how difficult people must have found it.

This could begin to explain why attitudes towards animals as livestock are different. The sheer necessity of keeping as much food as you can because it had been so scarce in the past. I still don't know if this justifies it for me though, the treatment is still unfair.

I'm trying to be objective, but I won't be surprised if some of my anger or sadness comes through. I also accept that I am only living in one part of China, so what I've seen might not apply to the whole country. I am saying that as a courtesy, because I am sure these cases aren't limited to my small town.

Yes, many other counties have practiced unfair or downright cruel treatment of animals: rodeo in USA, bullfighting in Spain or fox hunting in the UK, I'm not denying or ignoring that. Its just sad to live somewhere where I see it happen so often.


Now read these, they are far less morbid:

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