Thanks to DuoDuo team, our donors, and local animal organizations in China, dogmeat has been removed from all food delivery services. Pushing for a nationwide animal welfare law in China is the focus of our legislative action campaign, one leg of Duo Duo Project's 3-pronged approach (Legislation, Spay and Neuter, and Education).
Any kind of legislation is always very difficult and takes time, and even more so in an authoritarian system. But there are other things we can do. For example, a few years ago, our team in China started paying attention and noticed that some dog meat was on the to-go menu on China's largest food delivery platform, ELE.me (餓了嗎). Our team joined with several local animal organizations and successfully pressured ELE.me headquarters in Beijing to announce that restaurants serving dog meat would be removed from its platform.
DoorDash, Uber Eats, and many food delivery services have become a central part of many of our lives during the pandemic. However, online food order and delivery service has always been popular in China - even before Covid-19. With an average of 5 million orders a day, and more than 70 million registered users, and available in over 700 Chinese cities, this victory was a big achievement. In this case, our team used two main arguments: food safety concerns (the dog meat trade is a black market trade) and the negative publicity that would surround their business platform. The removal of dog meat from to-go menus is a significant step for the better.
Our donors generous support allows us to hire experts to give our team members in China crucial legal knowledge to deal with big corporations like ELE.me. Now we have noticed that there are more and smaller food delivery services popping up in China due to the pandemic. The Duo Duo Project team will be vigilant, keep a close eye on them, and make sure they will also remove dog meat from their platform. Stopping ELE.me. from having dogmeat on the menu sends a strong message to these new food delivery services that this will practice will never not be tolerated.
Our donors trust in us enables us to do much-needed, behind-the-scenes campaigns. They are not as exciting as stopping a dog meat truck but they greatly further our movement. Everything counts and is a step in the right direction of getting rid of the dog meat trade forever.
Thank you for supporting our important work to bring an end to the dog and cat meat trade.