Draft law highlights ban on cruelty to animals

Beijing - The latest draft of China's first law on "anti-cruelty to animals", which was made public on Wednesday to solicit opinion, has banned zoos from maltreating animals by not giving them adequate food and water, an additional stipulation after 13 Siberian tigers died within three months at a zoo in Northeast China.

The draft has also changed a controversial stipulation in its previous version that bans the consumption of dogs and cats, leaving the decision to regional authorities.

Chang Jiwen, a researcher at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who has been leading a panel of experts on the draft, said the ban on starving animals was included in the latest version after the recent tiger deaths aroused concern.