Animals or humans

Zhu has received hundreds of phone calls over the last few days, a minority agreeing with his argument that the issue is a straight choice between saving human beings and killing animals. A majority, however, questioned Zhu's logic.

"I know about Zhu's claim, but I decided to ignore it," said Qin Xiaona, director of Beijing-based Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), an organization that rescued 80 dogs on April 15. "People who are violent toward animals are harming society."

He fully supports Zhu, said Cao Donghai, 47, who claimed to be a non-teaching staff member at Southwest University in Chongqing.

"Pets including dogs are sometimes harmful to humans and cause diseases, bark a lot and smell bad," he said.

Dog rescues reflected "Westernization," said an analyst who requested anonymity.

"Throughout history, the Chinese did not consider eating dogs as wrong."

The "Western idea" of treating dogs as family members was increasingly popular, he said, stirring compassion toward animals among Chinese.

The controversy came about through the lack of a clear legal and regulatory framework separating pets from meat, said Qiao Xinsheng, a professor at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan.

Qiao called for an animal welfare law as soon as possible, the Shanghai Morning Post reported. After a public outcry over police slaughtering thousands of dogs to stop the spread of rabies in 2009, China had appeared to be moving toward such a law but nothing has happened at successive National People's Congresses.

The result is that today only endangered species are protected on the Chinese mainland: Animals sold as pets or for food can be hurt or killed without legal protection or penalty.