I. Representative of the National People’s Congress, Xia Wu Zhuoma, employee of Tongren Water Company, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province

Animal cruelty has a serious impact on people’s mental health, especially on young people. Animal cruelty is not only harming animals, it is indulging in violence. Violence, if indulged, hurts animals now and may be transferred to people in the future, so such incidents must be given our utmost attention.

It is recommended that animal cruelty be included in the scope of public interest litigation, so that such issues can be dealt with effectively in the future.

II. Tang Lijun, Deputy Director of Modern Agricultural Development Service Centre, Daying County, Sichuan Province, Representative of the National People’s Congress

Pet breeding and rearing at the national system level has no standards, is not regulated, not transparent and other problems, making the breed, number and health status of pets out of control, causing hidden dangers to public safety.

Representative Tang Lijun believes that the enactment of the Pet Protection Law will help to establish a sound and complete industrial system and jointly promote the development of the pet economy on a benign track. He suggested that, on the one hand, the Pet Protection Law should regulate pet owners who do not register and immunise their pets as required, as well as pets that cause nuisance, injury and abandonment; on the other hand, pet abuse should also be dealt with, and “serious cases may be criminalised”.

III. Wu Chen, Chief Architect and Chief Planner of Shougang Group

I propose to speed up the construction of an urban animal biosecurity risk prevention, control and management system.

In order to create a harmonious and healthy living environment for people and pets, and to maximise the prevention and control of biosecurity risks, I suggest that, on the basis of respecting people’s wishes to keep pets, urban animals be included in the national biosecurity framework, and that risk factors such as new outbreaks of infectious diseases and urban animal epidemics be quickly identified through a variety of means, so that early detection, early warning and early response can be achieved.

First, promote the establishment of a nationwide urban animal biosecurity and intelligent management platform, integrate breeding and production, disease prevention and control, quarantine and inspection, improve the urban animal disease monitoring system, and scientifically carry out urban animal e-certification, epidemic prevention integration and digitalisation of the live supply chain. Realise early warning monitoring and epidemiological investigation of zoonotic diseases in urban animals.

Secondly, on the basis of maintaining a healthy pet economy and protecting people’s willingness to keep pets, play a role in guiding public opinion to correctly guide awareness of scientific pet ownership in accordance with the law, reduce the growth in the number of stray animals due to abandonment, etc., and reduce the potential for biosecurity risks.

Once again, a pet breeding and distribution market monitoring mechanism should be established, with the participation of government departments, industry associations and market players. The pet breeding and distribution market will be regulated at source, a pet breeding registration system will be implemented, newborn pets will be screened for genetic diseases, and the whole life cycle of urban animals will be traced from the source.

IV. Zhang Boli, Member of the National People’s Congress and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

It was suggested that the development of original alternatives to endangered medicinal herbs be accelerated.

Representative Zhang Boli pointed out that there are 17 species of endangered animal herbs and 68 species of endangered plant herbs in China, which play a key role in the prevention and treatment of major diseases in Chinese medicine. However, as the use of endangered herbs increases year by year, there is a tendency for endangered species, especially endangered animals, to expand, so the development, review and registration and industrialisation of original alternatives to endangered herbs must be accelerated.

Zhang Boli suggested that the State should formulate clear regulations, administrative rules and industrial policies to support and encourage groups, individuals and enterprises in society to engage in the research and development of original alternatives to endangered herbs; the State Drug Administration should formulate technical guidance documents on the policy basis, technical process, evaluation system and registration methods for the registration and research of original alternatives to endangered herbs to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the work The relevant state departments should support the basic research on alternatives for endangered herbs, so as to provide scientific support for China to take a path of both conservation and utilization.