Chinese Online Shop Under Fire For Selling 'Mystery Boxes' Containing Dead Kittens, Puppies

Animal "mystery boxes" led to indignation in China after some mistreated 160 dying puppies and kittens were discovered in the back of a Chinese delivery truck.

The Mystery Boxes

In Chengdu, a city in the southwestern Sichuan province, volunteers stopped a delivery truck and found around 160 crates carrying cats and dogs, as stated by the Weibo account of the Chinese animal-rescue group Chengdu Aizhijia Rescue Center. The center is convinced that the boxes of animals were heading to customers who had bought puppy and kitten "mystery boxes" for a special promotion amount of $1.50 or 9.90 yuan."This is wickedness. The pets are struggling to breathe," a volunteer in a video discloses.

The center said in a Weibo post that the crates did not have food or water in them and that some animals had died during conveyance. The organization also made an estimation that majority of the cats and dogs found were about 1 to 3 months old and hardly weaned.

Recovery of the Animals

ZTO, the courier company responsible for the stopped shipment, on Weibo posted a notice of apology for the incident that took place, disclosing that the manager responsible for courier services in the Sichuan region had been well disciplined.The company also said that it would make improvements on training procedures and tackle how to "safeguard animals" but did not disclose whether it would totally prohibit the transportation of living animals.

The Chengdu Aizhijia Animal Rescue Center as of Thursday said it had conveyed majority of the animals back to its home, where it says it will discover homes that will be suitable for the animals. The group also made an announcement that about 38 animals were taken to vets so that they can be properly treated, as volunteers felt they may have contracted diseases or been injured during the course of transit.

Tracking of the Shipment

As the main listing has been deleted, it is uncertain where the Chengdu-based seller got the animals from - but the rights group was able to track the shipment after sighting the 9.90-yuan-per-mystery-box advertisement on Taobao - a shopping platform just like Amazon.

In January, a report made by the local news outlet Zhejiang Zaixian noted that in late 2020 the Chinese postal service started preventing animal mystery boxes when web users noticed a sudden rush in the number of animal mystery boxes e-commerce platforms sold.

An animal-rights group in Beijing known as Protecting the Voices of Asian Animals revealed to Insider it had noted an increase this year in listings for animal mystery boxes on e-commerce platforms. Liu Zexin, the group's representative told insider: "It began with mystery boxes for items like beauty products and shampoo, but animal breeders began to employ it as a means to sell more animals for a cheap price."

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