Since spring and summer of last year, when the coronavirus began to spread, there have been outbreaks in pet stores and animal shelters. Are there enough animals in the facility, which is filled with protected dogs and cats every year and is also culled? What is happening in the pet industry?
Pet boom arrives with the new Corona?
Did you know that in this new era where contact with people such as “self-restraint”, “telework” and “social distance” is taboo, the number of people who keep pets (especially those who keep them “new”) is rapidly increasing? Certainly, even for our own safety, now that we are forced to “home time” every day, it is also convincing to seek healing.
According to the “National Dog and Cat Breeding Survey” released annually by the Pet Food Association, the number of dogs and cats has been decreasing slightly or leveling off in recent years.
On the other hand, the number of newly bred breeders within one year is on an increasing trend in 2018, with dogs up 14% year-on-year and cats up 16% in 2020, an increase from the previous year.
THE OWNER “The corona disaster has brought the pet market to about 1.6 trillion yen?” Concerns about the accelerating pet boom”
I’ve always seen people around me with pets more than ever before. Just walking along the usual road, “There are a lot of people with dodies like this!” It has 300,000 surprises. Have you felt that way? However, while feeling somehow happy that the number of people who keep pets has increased, it is inevitable that the problem that was under the surface of the water will increase as the population increases. A number of problems have been highlighted behind the pet boom.
Concern (1) Abandonment of breeding
The biggest concern in the pet boom is still breeding abandonment. I think this is a problem that has come to be dealt with a little in the news recently. As you know, having an animal is as loving as having more family members, but it takes a lot of money and time. However, al though I started keeping it easily or with a short-term idea that got on the boom, “It costs more money after keeping than I thought”, “Walking, rice, discipline … There are many people who abandon breeding for human selfish reasons such as troublesome care, barking, and nostalgia. Unfortunately, it is unfortunately common for animals to suffer early as a family and, in the worst cases, die.
Of course, with the raising of this breeding abandonment problem, the problem of unscrupulous breeders and distributors breeding pets, not only owners, has come to light. Animals that force unreasonable multi-births that threaten maternal health with an emphasis on interests, and who are giving birth, breeding, and managing in an unsanitary environment, continue to follow. The government is also developing new policies to take into account and address the situation. More information is available in the previous Animal Liaison article , “Dogs and Cats, Proposed Numerical Regulations” We need to use that as a reference and think again about how we should act in the future.
Concerns (2) Pet Thieves
In addition, there seems to be a concern in the near future due to the demand for pets mentioned earlier, but it seems to be a “pet thief” that is increasing overseas. In recent days, five people have been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department for kidnapping lady Gaga’s famous pet dog.
Brief summary of the incident: On February 24, a pet sitter who was walking with Gaga’s pet dog, three French bulldogs, was suddenly mued at the men who appeared in the car and demanded that the dogs be handed over. He resisted, but one of the suspects opened fire, eventually robbing them of two and fleeing.
Pet sitter Ryan Fischer has undergone surgery to remove part of his lungs due to a shot to the chest, but has now been discharged from the hospital and is recovering well. However, he later revealed on his social media that he had “wandered the boundaries of life and death”, and it was still a very heart-breaking incident that two weak French bulldogs were violently taken away.
Police seem to see the french bulldog’s own high value as the reason for the “stolen” is not so much the crime of knowing that the owner is Gaga. At least in the U.S., this breed is very popular, and the average sales price is about 400,000, so the theory that the crime was committed for the purpose of stealing and reselling seems to be rich.
The Los Angeles Police Department later revealed that three men, aged 18, 19 and 27, were charged with attempted murder and robbery, the father of a 19-year-old suspect, 40, and a woman, 50, who had turned herself in by delivering the dogs to the police station two days after the incident.
If you kidnap your pet, what are you guilty of?
What surprised me the most when I investigated this “Lady Gaga,my dog kidnapping case” so far is the weight of the crime being asked. Certainly, a member of an important family member was kidnapped, so if you do not receive a considerable reward, the victim (owner and dog?) ) will not be convinced. However, the “attempted murder” was unexpected. The weight of this sin is a sign that pets’ lives are so respected in the United States.
So what happens if you kidnap a pet in Japan? What if your pet is taken away suddenly? What sins do you expect to be accused of? Even if you don’t go to “attempted murder”, it will be “kidnapping crime” or something … And at least I think. Unfortunately, under Japanese criminal law, if you kidnap a dog or other pet for the purpose of resale or owning it yourself, it is a crime of theft (imprisonment for not more than 10 years, a fine of not more than 500,000 yen). In addition, reselling a stolen pet does not criminally commit the act itself. The reason is that pets such as dogs are legally recognized as “goods”, so “crimes of abduction” established for “people” are not established for pet opponents.
As you can see from these facts and the problem of malicious breeders and distributors, there are limits to the current state of Japanese criminal law on pets. That said, we’re going to change the law right away! However, I think that it will lead to the recognition that we individuals are strongly aware once again of the weight of each life and the responsibility to take care of their lives, which will protect them even a little.