W2- Pet-Friendly World

 

Figure 1

What is Pet and Pet-Friendly?

A pet is an animal primarily for personal companionship, not as a working animal, livestock or laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearance, cognitive abilities, or relatable personalities, but some pets may be accepted with almost unconditional attitudes (such as stray dogs or cats). 

Pet-friendly in English means a place that is suitable for pets or where you can live with pets. For example, France, Italy and Europe are typical pet-friendly countries.

Current Situasion

In this era, although many countries have implemented pet-friendly obligations. However, some countries and some relatively backward areas are not very friendly to pets, and even eat pet meat.

Figure 2 : A dog meat restaurant located in a relatively backward area in China

Figure 3 : Dog Stealers and Dog Meat Vendors

In some backward areas of China, they will eat pet meat, such as the dog meat shop in Figure 2, where the purchase channel is from traders who illegally steal pet dogs and catch stray dogs (Figure 3). Because of the existence of dog meat shops, dog thieves are more rampant. Different breeds of dogs are sold for different prices, so dog thieves will sneak in to steal expensive dogs when their owners are not home. Over time, there will be notices of missing pets on major social media every day.

According to Wikipedia, apart from people eating dog meat in some backward areas of China, eating pet meat also often occurs in Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and other countries.

Future Vision

Figure 4

I think in the next 30-40 years, people can stop eating pet meat and treat pets kindly. But there will always be black areas in this world, and there will always be many people who do illegal things, no matter what era it is. Therefore, pet owners also need to take a lot of precautions, such as buying dog collars with GPS (Figure 4). Collars can also be estimated based on the dog's distance from the owner. If out of range, the owner's cell phone will ring. In addition, I hope that many countries will have pet protection laws in the future, so that illegal traders will be punished as they should.

Solution

Figure 5 : Russian President Vladimir Putin

Firstly, national laws can promote the promulgation of pet protection laws, so that pets are protected by law, and illegal pet thieves are punished as they should be. Some countries already have pet protection laws. For example (Figure 5), Article 231 of the Russian President Vladimir Putin enacts "Civil Code" stipulates that animals are the object of real rights, which does not mean that people with rights can control and use animals at will, but should be subject to reasonable restrictions. Article 137 stipulates: "When exercising rights, animals must not be treated cruelly in violation of the principles of humanity. When compensation is made to animal victims, the value of the animal's life must be taken into account. Compensation cannot simply be based on the market value of the animal as standard. I hope that in the future, other countries can have pet protection laws.

Figure 6 : Vegetarian Meat

Secondly, I think there will be many alternatives to meat in the future. In order to meet people's food needs, diverse alternatives such as vegetarian or plant-based meat alternatives can be provided. These products can provide a texture and taste similar to meat, without the need to slaughter the animals. For example, in Figure 6, the meat in the photo is made of beans and plants. So I think that in the future, there will be more vegetarian meat made from different plants or beans, so that people can get rid of their desire for pet meat.

Figure 7 : Social Media

Lastly, we can educate and inform people about the value and meaning of owning pets, as well as the ethical and moral issues of consuming pet meat. We can also use social media to deliver this information, because in the future, social media will only become more widespread. This can increase awareness and reduce the demand for pet meat.

Reflection

Pets are the soul mates of most human beings. They have their own thoughts and are very loyal companions of human beings. I have seen many videos on Douyin, all of which are dog thieves stealing a car full of expensive dogs. Kind passers-by met them and tried to communicate with the peddler to buy them, but the peddler charged a high price. Passers-by tried their best to save a few dogs, and she felt sorry for the other dogs that could not be rescued. I also felt very sad after seeing that video. So I think they should be protected by people, and the country should have pet protection laws. I hope the future can be a pet-friendly world.