2023-12-27 13:42:48
Updated Wednesday, December 27, 2023 – 12:42
Several doctors have warned about the impact of this practice on the physical and mental health of pets.
DISNEY | WEIBO
A new fashion in China is causing controversy. The trend is to perform a static operation on pets to round their ears and make them resemble Mickey Mouse’s. As expected, many animal lovers consider it a form of abuse and demand its prohibition.
For a price of 300 yuan (42 dollars, 38 euros) A veterinary clinic in the central city of Chongqing, for example, offers a group purchase of veterinary operations. “Mickey ears” for pets as a “special offer” for the arrival of the Chinese New Year, the newspaper reports South China Morning Post.
The offer illustrates a trend that has raised the ire of animal defenders and experts in this field, who demand that this type of intervention be vetoed by the physical damage and psychological consequences they cause to animalsespecially dogs and cats.
The operation, for the moment legal in Chinaconsists of two phases: the first lasts half an hour, is performed under anesthesia and consists of surgically trimming the animal’s ears to round them, while the second consists of “styling” their shape so that the auditory appendage remains erect.
The head of the Loving Care International veterinary center in Beijing, Liu Yudong, explained to the newspaper that the second phase lasts between 20 and 60 days and that it requires “frequent adjustments” to make sure ears stay straight.
Despite having become a fashion, Liu pointed out that the procedure is rarely performed in veterinary clinics in larger cities, although it is practiced in farms.
“It’s a moral question”adds the veterinarian, who assures that both he and his colleagues are categorically opposed to this type of surgery because the primary obligation in their profession is to work for animal welfare.
Several doctors have also warned about the impact of this practice on the physical and mental health of pets, from the risks of anesthesia to possibility of animals developing self-injurious behavior due to pain, warns Chen Young, from the Lianhe Veterinary Hospital in the southeastern city of Shenzhen.
The experts’ criticisms have been joined by those of numerous Chinese Internet users who have harshly criticized the “Mickey Mouse ears” fashion. “If the owners think it’s so adorable, let them cut off their own ears.”snaps one user, while another considers that the practice is “animal abuse, not love” and a third wonders if those who mutilate the tails and ears of animals are sick.
#Controversy #China #fashion #cutting #ears #pets #Mickey #Mouse #style