On 29 May 2020, an updated version of China’s Directory of Genetic Resources of Livestock and Poultry was released by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, notably excluding dogs on the list of animals that are allowed to be bred, raised, traded and transported for commercial purposes.

 Although the legislation is not an outright ban on consumption, the regulation does ban the selling of live dogs and dog meat for food. This means all dog restaurants, markets and slaughterhouses countrywide selling dogs for food are now illegal. The protection continues to be extended to cats who are not and have never been on the Catalogue of Livestock, reflecting their status and importance as a companion animal.

The update comes less than a month before the infamous Yulin Dog Meat Festival, held every year on the summer solstice and scheduled this year between 21 – 30 June. The festival was created in 2010 in an effort to boost flagging dog meat sales and has been met with local and worldwide controversy. The Humane Society International estimates that approximately 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are killed in China every year for meat and is seen by many as a “bloody spectacle”.

This change is in line with a previous announcement from the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs that China would no longer classify dogs as livestock. In April, two Chinese cities, Shenzhen and Zhuhai became the first to officially ban the consumption of cat and dog meat. These announcements came in response to a nationwide ban on the consumption of specific wildlife meat in China, after some of the earliest COVID-19 infections were found in individuals who visited a wildlife market in Wuhan, China.

This is a positive step forward but certainly not a complete answer, and a total ban on the consumption of dog meat is still required.  Nevertheless, the update provides a valuable opportunity for cities across China to protect dogs and cats from their meat trade and slaughterhouses and cement their place as companion animals.