Abstract: On the surface, China has developed an important public health prevention and control system consisting of four laws, namely Wildlife Protection Law, Animal Husbandry Law, Animal Epidemic Prevention Law and Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment Law. In reality, however, there are both loopholes within each law and gaps between the laws, which are even connected to form institutional cracks. In order to close the loopholes and bridge the cracks, we should change our perspective from the local perspective of a single law to the macro perspective of the whole system and integrate different laws to form a strict institutional chain from two aspects. Firstly, we should integrate the Wildlife Protection Law and the Animal Husbandry Law to develop a unified animal protection law. And secondly, we should improve the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law, strengthen its connection and coordination with Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment Law, and expand the narrow concept of “livestock infectious diseases” into the comprehensive concept of “zoonotic infectious diseases”.

Key Words: Legal Loopholes; Wildlife Protection Law; Animal Husbandry Law; Animal Epidemic Prevention Law; Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment Law

Author: Liu Zhixin, assistant research fellow, CASS Institute of Law.

Source: 6 (2023) Law-Based Society.