On May 3, the Animal rights group Love Home put out a raid in the central Chinese city of Chengdu. They uncovered around 156 boxes that contained months-old puppies and kittens, some of them were dead.
The animal activist group had released the video clips on the media. The flashlights pointed towards the towers of boxes on the backside of a delivery truck. Out of some boxes, tufts of fur could be glimpsed through the tiny air holes. While some other boxes appear to be completely taped.
Inside these boxes were locked pups and kittens, some of which died due to suffocation and anxiety. The video that was released also showed animals crying and scared.
The images traumatized the Chinese social media users, who were terrified. The media claimed that the animals had become victims of the ‘mystery boxes’ shopping craze that had swept the Chinese public.
The delivery of live animals by the means of mailboxes has ever since been illegal in China. But it is poorly policed and taken care of. Some mystery box operators have since been exploiting this flaw in law enforcement to trade surprise pets to the customers for very little money, sometimes as little as $5.
This is one of the many more horrendous incidents occurring in China, apart from the live skinning of dogs and other pets last year. And the questioning of these mystery box trades has not been for the first time. In the review of the mystery pet box listings on Chinese e-commerce sites, the quality of pets was indicated to be bad.
The customers complained that the pets that they are receiving are dirty, sick, and traumatized. One customer writes that her dog has been in low spirits and looked very sick. He hasn’t moved since its arrival. The other said that her pet hasn’t moved much while the customer services said to let it rest, the pet passed away in misery.
China’s parcel delivery business has many scandals in its name. the animal mistreatment and torture are very much visible. In September 2020, around 5,000 animals including cats, dogs, and rabbits were found dead in a logistics station in Central Henan Province.
The love home footage and photos have awoken outrage amongst the public media, more than 450 million posts were seen with the ‘Pet Blind Box’ hashtag. The handle also posted about boycotting the live transportation and tapping of pets in delivery boxes. It further said about resisting blind pet boxes.
