Animal rights in China: ‘pets by post’ scheme sparks outrage among advocacy groups
- Chinese consumers are being lured by online vendors offering animal ‘lucky bags’ at knockdown prices, but welfare groups say the practice should be outlawed
- ‘It’s not just the vendors who lack a conscience, but consumers too,’ says Isobel Zhang, co-founder of the Chinese branch of ACTAsia
The idea is that consumers chose the type of pet they want, but not the specific breed, colour or size, so they do not know quite what they have bought until it arrives. The marketing gimmick has its origins in the Japanese New Year custom known as fukubukuro in which merchants fill bags with random contents and sell them at a discount.
In China, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and turtles are all up for sale, with prices ranging from 10 yuan (US$1.50) to 1,000 yuan, according to local news reports.
Isobel Zhang, co-founder of the Chinese branch of ACTAsia, a non-profit organisation that promotes animal welfare and sustainable social change throughout the Asia-Pacific region, said the concept of buying and selling pets online and shipping them in boxes was reprehensible.
“Would you put a three-year old child in a gift box?” she said. “It is not just the vendors who lack a conscience, but consumers too.”
