With no animal protection laws, strong demand for ivory and animal-based ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and lax enforcement of international laws governing wildlife trade, China is the worst country in the world for animal welfare
[When I started this blog in 2008, my first post was about a dog who was chained inside a gallery and starved as part of an "artwork." Since then, animal welfare has remained a primary theme on 13.7 Billion Years. Over the years, I have learned about countless stories of animal cruelty here in the United States and across the world. But one country has shown the most blatant and widespread disregard for the lives and well-being of non-human animals: China. As Mahatma Gandhi wisely observed, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated." If China is to become a great nation, it has a lot of work to do. One way concerned people can help put pressure on China to change is to stop buying Chinese goods. More than 2.3 million people worldwide have signed the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, and the number of animal lovers around the globe is much greater. Imagine if all of them stopped purchasing Chinese products. So, every weekday for the month of August, I gave animal lovers one reason to boycott China—23 reasons in all. It was not an easy month to digest all the horrific stories and cruel practices. But I have placed great value in a quote by the late philosopher Albert Schweitzer: "Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." I often do, and I hope that from time to time, you do too. -- Reynard Loki]
"Animals are treated dreadfully in Chinese farms, laboratories, zoos and elsewhere," reports The Economist. "There are grim factories where thousands of live bears in tiny cages are tapped for medicinal bile. At safari parks, live sheep and poultry are fed to lions as spectators cheer. At farms and in slaughterhouses, animals are killed with little concern for their suffering."
"According to Zhou Ping, of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, few Chinese accept that animals have any rights at all. She thinks it is time they did, and in 2006 put forward China's first national animal-welfare law. Her proposal got nowhere, and there is no sign of progress since. 'There is so far', she says, 'only a small voice calling for change.'"
Considering that over 2.3 million people around the world have signed the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare—with the total number of animal lovers worldwide much greater—one powerful method for engendering change is for animal lovers everywhere to boycott Chinese-made goods. At the very least, animal lovers would not be supporting the economy of a nation that has not demonstrated the ethical maturity described in Gandhi's famous quote, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated."
By that measure alone, China is one of the most immoral nations. And for countless animals who needlessly suffer and die, and for entire species that risk being wiped out—whether within China's borders or outside China to support the domestic market—China is pure hell on Earth.
ACTION ALERTS
"Animals are treated dreadfully in Chinese farms, laboratories, zoos and elsewhere," reports The Economist. "There are grim factories where thousands of live bears in tiny cages are tapped for medicinal bile. At safari parks, live sheep and poultry are fed to lions as spectators cheer. At farms and in slaughterhouses, animals are killed with little concern for their suffering."
"According to Zhou Ping, of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, few Chinese accept that animals have any rights at all. She thinks it is time they did, and in 2006 put forward China's first national animal-welfare law. Her proposal got nowhere, and there is no sign of progress since. 'There is so far', she says, 'only a small voice calling for change.'"
Considering that over 2.3 million people around the world have signed the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare—with the total number of animal lovers worldwide much greater—one powerful method for engendering change is for animal lovers everywhere to boycott Chinese-made goods. At the very least, animal lovers would not be supporting the economy of a nation that has not demonstrated the ethical maturity described in Gandhi's famous quote, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated."
By that measure alone, China is one of the most immoral nations. And for countless animals who needlessly suffer and die, and for entire species that risk being wiped out—whether within China's borders or outside China to support the domestic market—China is pure hell on Earth.
ACTION ALERTS
- Join over 611,000 people around the world who have signed a PTROA petition urging the Chinese government to pass animal welfare laws
- Sign a Change.org petition urging Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to stop Irish racehorse exports to China, where they will be used in horse fighting
- Sign a ForceChange petition urging Tesco to stop selling live turtles for human consumption in China
- Sign a Change.org petition urging the Tongan Government to stop the export of turtle shell from Tonga to China
- Sign the Humane Society's "Be Cruelty-Free" pledge to say no to cosmetics animal testing
- Sign a Care2 petition urging Chinese authorities to crack down on illegal imports of pangolins
- Join over 785,000 people who have signed an Avaaz petition urging EU leaders to push CITES to suspend trade in all rhino products
- Join Stella McCartney and sign the PETA pledge to be leather-free
- Sign a Born Free Foundation petition to increase the protection of elephants from the bloody ivory trade
- Sign a Griddix petition urging U.S. President Barack Obama and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso to officialy ask to the Chinese government to stop the brutal practice of eating dog meat and to immediately end the terrible tortures to which dogs are subjected in China
- Sign a Change.org petition urging Nestle Purina to recall chicken jerky treats made in China
- Sign a Care2 petition urging Chinese president Hu Jintao to stop killing endangered species
- Sign a Change.org petition to stop the sale of "living keychains"
- Sign a Care2 petition asking the Chinese government to ban shark finning
- Sign PETA's Pledge to Be Fur-Free
- Sign a ForceChange petition to protect threatened populations of Asian musk deer
- Sign a Care for Chinese Animals petition to ban dog and cat meat in China
- Join Bill Clinton, Paul McCartney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bono, Ricky Gervais, Roger Moore, Susan Sarandon, Anjelica Huston, Jeremy Irons, Paula Abdul, Joan Jett, Annie Lennox, Elton John and thousands of others who have signed the TigerTime petition urging Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to call for an end to all tiger trade in China
- Sign a Change.org petition to close China's bear bile farms
- Sign the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW)
- Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter
23 REASONS ANIMAL LOVERS SHOULD BOYCOTT CHINA
- Reason #1: China Tortures and Kills Bears
- Reason #2: China Kills Endangered Tigers
- Reason #3: China Slaughters Dogs Inhumanely, Eats Them
- Reason #4: China Is Pushing Musk Deer to Extinction
- Reason #5: China Tortures Animals on Fur Farms
- Reason #6: Chinese Delicacy Fuels Torture and Death of Sharks
- Reason #7: China Is Pushing Seahorse to Extinction
- Reason #8: China Sells Live Animals in Sealed Plastic Keychains
- Reason #9: China Tortures and Kills Monkeys for Monkey Brain Dish
- Reason #10: China Sells Toxic Treats That Kill Dogs
- Reason #11: China Clubbed 50,000 Dogs to Death
- Reason #12: China Supports Slaughter of Elephants for Ivory
- Reason #13: China Abuses Cows and Baby Calves
- Reason #14: China Is Pushing Endangered Rhino to Extinction
- Reason #15: China Is Pushing Endangered Pangolin to Extinction
- Reason #16: China Massacred Tens of Thousands of Cats for Olympics
- Reason #17: China Requires Animal Testing on Cosmetics
- Reason #18: China Kills Endangered Turtles
- Reason #19: China Kills Baby Mice for Delicacy Dish
- Reason #20: China Sells Videos of Animals Being Crushed to Death
- Reason #21: China Allows Horse Fighting
- Reason #22: China Drowns Baby Mice to Make a Health Tonic
- Reason #23: For Countless Animals, China Is Hell on Earth
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