[omcnoe]

These feeders are part of a stray cat control program in China, aiming to both feed & neuter stray cat populations there.

There have been some distasteful incidents of online groups organizing to try and harm/kill specific cats famous through this feeder program. China lacks animal welfare laws to protect these cats, it's not a crime. So people have taken to identifying these abusers and reporting them to their employer, university etc. Abusers have been fired and expelled over such cases. Governments overseas whose citizens participate in such online abuse groups need to be doing more. Membership in online animal abuse groups needs to be criminalized.

[Wowfunhappy]

"Membership" in anything should never be criminalized—that's freedom of association. Animal abuse should be criminalized.

[Llamamoe]

You have a point but we are literally talking about an association whose entire and only raison d'etre is to perpetuate violent crime. Maybe it shouldn't be outright criminal, since people can potentially register for other reasons than to participate, but it definitely should at least be under scrutiny.

[omcnoe]

We essentially criminalize membership in other kinds of criminal groups centered around producing and sharing illegal content, the same should apply to animal abuse.

[awesome_dude]

Tell that to the members of organisations deemed to be terrorists

[KolibriFly]

The focus should absolutely be on actions, not associations

[StopDisinfo910]

> "Membership" in anything should never be criminalized

Conspiracy is the criminalisation of association to commit a crime. Fredom of association doesn't magically mean you won't face consequences for what your association is about.

[Starlevel004]

We must secure the existence of animal abuse groups and a future for free association.

[hnbad]

Membership in an anti-constitutional organization is a crime under German law btw and I'm pretty sure there are other countries with similar laws. The US does criminalize membership but only as an add-on to other charges (co-conspiracy, basically). Of course in the US this is mostly for going after "gangs" so it's almost exclusively used against Black people.

[modo_mario]

>China lacks animal welfare laws to protect these cats

Does it? I remember a lot of outrage on reddit about people that would supposedly be banned from having pets due to low social credit score. Turns out the article was a complete lie and there was just a law introduced that made banning someone from having pets for a specified time a punishment that could be dished out. Specifically in the case of someone convicted for animal abuse.

[rsynnott]

That's a fairly weak punishment, tho.

[moron4hire]

I was confused by how that might be possible, because I first assumed this would have been something like how the SPCA or animal rescue shelters work in the US, where there would be a central location where the animals are handled and processed. But I'm getting the impression that these are automated boxes that are placed in-situ in cities?

[none2585]

Tangential but related - shout-out to nodogsleftbehind.com which is a nonprofit designed to save dogs from cruel treatment and the meat market in China.

[varispeed]

If they neuter all stray cats, they will end up with no cats. Then they'll end up with mice.

[ocean117]

其实还好，这是极端个例，在中国都上不了几次新闻的那种，中国的绝育计划大多是民间宠物店或者宠物医院推动的，你可以从中国的抖音看着，官方除了几个发达城市直接不管，所以中国有着世界上最高的流浪猫狗群体，以及传播范围最广的狂犬病和最高的狂犬病疫苗滥用率，在这里甚至你被家养兔子咬了医生都会建议你使用血清。 In fact, fortunately, this is an extreme case, in China can not be on the news several times, China's sterilization program is mostly promoted by private pet stores or pet hospitals, you can watch from China's Douyin, the official except for a few developed cities directly ignore, so China has the highest stray cat and dog group in the world, as well as the most widespread rabies and the highest rabies vaccine abuse rate, here even if you are bitten by a domestic rabbit, the doctor will advise you to use serum.

[throawayonthe]

are there places where it's illegal to kill cats? i know there are cruelty laws, but afaik in most places you are allowed to kill animals "humanely"

[hnbad]

If you want to be this pedantic, killing humans is technically legal in every country that has soldiers and law enforcement officers.

[Kichererbsen]

Sometimes cats just get lost: The go on a walk-about and can't find the way home. I have a hunch that's more common than animal abuse. How does your system address that?

[npteljes]

So to throw me to prison, all one needs to do is break in, and let my cat loose.

Also, abandonment is just a minuscule part of human animal abuse.

[CamouflagedKiwi]

The most common animals that get abandoned are unwanted kittens and puppies, whose owners won't input them into your registry.

[adastra22]

that's not the abuse being talked about here