Phoenix News, NetEase News, Sohu, and Jiemian News successively published article by World Dog Alliance on the new regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

On September 1, the World Dog Alliance (WDA) published a news article on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs ' "Guidelines for the Management of Designated Inspection Stations for Road Transport Animals," which was widely reprinted by major media outlets including Phoenix News, NetEase News, Sohu, and Interface News. These outlets published the entire report and cited the World Dog Alliance's analysis and insights.

Report links:

Phoenix News

NetEase News

Sohu

Interface News

Full report:

New regulations from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs have been implemented, steadily improving animal welfare.

On August 11, 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs officially issued the "Guidelines for the Management of Inspection Stations for Designated Road Transport Animals" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), clarifying that the management guidelines will be fully implemented on September 1, 2025.

The introduction of this policy not only marks the further improvement of my country's animal transport regulatory system, but also has multi-dimensional positive significance for improving animal welfare levels.

Article 3 of the Guidelines clearly stipulates that when setting up designated channels, the agricultural and rural departments of provincial-level people's governments must follow the basic principles of scientific planning, reasonable layout, safety and convenience, and feasible management. They must comprehensively consider multiple factors such as the epidemic situation of animal diseases in the province and surrounding areas, the layout of the highway network, the circulation patterns of livestock and poultry, the infrastructure resources of existing inspection stations, the deployment of supervisory and law enforcement forces, and the guarantee of working conditions. They must scientifically propose suggestions for the establishment and adjustment of designated channels within their administrative regions, and after approval by the people's government at the same level, officially announce them to the public to ensure that the channel settings meet epidemic prevention requirements without affecting normal transportation efficiency.

In terms of core functions, Article 6 of the Guidelines details the five major tasks of designated channel inspection stations. The first task is to strictly inspect the statutory requirements of the transportation process, including the authenticity and validity of animal quarantine certificates, the integrity of livestock and poultry identification, and the filing qualifications of animal transport vehicles and practitioners. At the same time, on-site inspections of the health status of transported animals are carried out to confirm whether the transportation behavior complies with national transportation regulations. The second task is to establish a complete supervision and inspection record system, and generate and upload supervision and inspection information in real time through the designated channel information module of the animal quarantine certificate electronic issuance system. , achieving full traceability; for any unqualified conditions discovered during the inspection, the inspection station will take handling measures in accordance with the law and regulations. Once suspected infected animals are found, they will be immediately reported according to the prescribed procedures and the emergency response mechanism will be activated; in addition, the inspection station needs to carry out standardized disinfection of passing animal transport vehicles according to the actual needs of major animal disease prevention and control to cut off the disease transmission chain; at the same time, it can undertake other related animal disease prevention and control tasks according to the specific needs of local animal epidemic prevention work.

To ensure the standardized operation of inspection stations, the Guidelines also require the establishment of a comprehensive work system covering daily supervision and inspection processes, epidemic prevention and disinfection operating procedures, animal epidemic reporting mechanisms, information registration and upload management methods, and the transfer of illegal clues, etc., to form a closed-loop management. In terms of transparency, inspection stations must publicly display the name of the competent department, specific work responsibilities, inspection and law enforcement procedures, staff identity information and code of conduct, as well as social supervision telephone numbers in a conspicuous location, actively accept public and public supervision, and ensure that power is exercised in the sun.

Liu Yuanyuan, China Regional Director of the World Dog Federation, analyzed that through normalized and institutionalized supervision, not only the risk of disease transmission is reduced, but it also has a strong deterrent effect on various illegal transportation behaviors.

For example, the national standard "Technical Requirements for Pig Transportation Management" (implemented in 2024) stipulates that rest stops must be reasonably arranged during transportation, feed and water must be replenished, and the temperature in the carriage must be controlled within an appropriate range; the "Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture on Further Strengthening the Quarantine and Supervision of Dogs and Cats at the Origin" (Nongyifa [2013] No. 16) stipulates that all transported dogs and cats must undergo quarantine at the origin in accordance with regulations, and quarantine certificates must be issued for each one.

At the same time, animals illegally transported will be dealt with on-site without the possibility of return, and shippers and carriers will be held legally responsible. This high-pressure environment forces operators to comply with animal welfare regulations and reduce animal abuse caused by opportunistic behavior (such as overloading and prolonged deprivation of water and food).

This analysis has also been recognized by agricultural experts and related animal protection professionals.

As a public welfare organization that has long focused on dog and cat welfare and promoted legislation prohibiting the consumption of dogs and cats, the World Dog Federation believes that the designated checkpoint system will become a key milestone in the development of my country's animal protection system. By curbing harmful acts against companion animals through legal means, it will subtly raise awareness of animal protection throughout society and create a safer and more humane living environment for companion animals like dogs and cats. This move will propel companion animal protection work into a new stage of greater standardization, scientific research, and legalization, contributing to the building of a society where humans and nature coexist harmoniously.

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