Animals die in China's 'mystery pet box' craze
The discovery of 160 puppies and kittens being transported illegally through China’s postal service last week has thrown the country’s cruel ‘pet blind box’ craze into the spotlight.
The animal rescue group Chengdu Aizhijia Animal Rescue Centre intercepted a truck carrying 160 puppies and kittens confined inside stacked boxes at a logistics depot in the city of Chengdu. The animals are being given medical treatment and will be sent to a rescue centre, though four have sadly died since being rescued.
They are not the only ones to have lost their lives to this awful fad of buying ‘mystery’ pets delivered in opaque boxes. According to several news reports, people ordering the boxes have been live-streaming the ‘unboxing’ of the animals on social media, with some discovering the animals dead on arrival. Others disappointed by what they have received have abandoned or tried to return the animals.
The whole business started after the huge popularity of mystery toy boxes led by a company called Pop Mart. Since January, a number of online Chinese companies have been selling live animals including dogs, cats, turtles, and spiders in blind boxes instead of toys. According to Chinese news site Sixth Tone, users of China’s microblogging site Weibo reacted with outrage after the animal rescuers posted footage of their intervention to social media, with condemnation of the online vendors, logistics companies, and lax law enforcement as well as the people who buy the blind boxes.
But the public backlash and criticism from state-run broadcaster CCTV might not be enough to stop the trade, even though it is illegal to send live animals through China’s regular postal service. Sixth Tone reports that “police in Chengdu told domestic media they had no power to deal with the issue. Officials from the local agriculture and rural affairs bureau, meanwhile, said they were only responsible for managing animal transportation and virus-control measures.” Meanwhile, the e-commerce platforms through which the sales of blind boxes were made have started to clamp down on the practice, but vendors are trying to keep selling animals
The whole concept of sending animals through the post essentially for fun or for fashion - one of the animal rescuers said, "Most of the boxes say the animals are offspring of expensive dog breeds, but they’re just rural dogs," with the unwanted dogs then abandoned - is clearly extremely cruel. But it is not the only context in which animals are sent through postal services, sometimes with fatal outcomes.
Last year, nearly 5,000 newly-hatched chicks died after being sent to farmers in Maine through the US Postal Service (USPS). The deaths were the result of cuts to USPS and delivery delays presided over by a new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, appointed by the Trump administration in May 2020. USPS has been shipping day-old poultry since 1918, enabling a boom in mail-order hatcheries that send chicks to small farms and backyard coops. USPS will also post live bees, adult birds, scorpions and “other small, harmless, cold-blooded animals” such as frogs, fish, and chameleons. In the UK, Royal Mail will transport bees, caterpillars, spiders and some insects and worms, but no reptiles or other animals.
Transporting animals can cause them serious stress. Bee colonies, particularly smaller ones, can experience cold stress from which they may not recover. In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States published a report on the welfare issues of sending day-old chicks through the post, noting that “transport- whether by truck or plane and regardless of scale, commercial or speciality - can subject newly hatched chicks to substandard environmental conditions that may be detrimental to their welfare and even result in death.”
After the tragedy of the thousands of dead chicks sent through USPS to Maine, New York State assembly member Linda Rosenthal introduced a bill proposing a ban on the shipment of live animals by mail into or within the state. Farmers argue that USPS generally does a good job of handling and delivering chicks and only one or two out of a hundred might arrive dead.
It’s right to be outraged about the live animal blind box business in China. But, as with many other aspects of how animals are treated, we should remember also to look at the practices in our own countries with as much compassion for the living beings who are being exploited for profit.
Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.
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