China: controversy over trend of cutting off pet ears in the style of Mickey Mouse

The fashion of practicing a aesthetic operation to pets to round their ears and make them resemble those of Disney’s star mouse, Mickey Mousecauses controversy these days in Chinawhere many consider that it is animal abuse and demand its prohibition.

For a price of 300 yuan (US$ 42.38 euros) a veterinary clinic in the city of Chongqing (center), for example, offers a group purchase of “Mickey ears” for pets as a “special offer” for the arrival of the Chinese New Year, reports the South China Morning Post today.

The offer illustrates a trend that has raised the ire of animal defenders and experts in this field, who demand that this type of intervention be vetoed by the physical damage and psychological consequences that they cause to animals, especially dogs and cats.

The operation, for the moment legal in Chinaconsists of two phases: the first lasts half an hour, is performed under anesthesia and consists of surgically trimming the animal ears to round themwhile the second consists of going “styling” its shape so that the auditory appendage remains upright.

The head of the Loving Care International veterinary center in Beijing, Liu Yudong, explained to the newspaper that the second phase lasts between 20 and 60 days and that it requires “frequent adjustments” to make sure the ears stay straight.

Despite having become a fad, Liu said the procedure is rarely performed in veterinary clinics of the largest cities, although in hatcheries.

“It’s a moral issue“, concluded the veterinarian, who assured that both he and his colleagues are categorically opposed to this type of surgery because the primary obligation in your profession is to work for the animal welfare.

Several doctors also warned about the impact of this practice on the physical and mental health of petsfrom the risks of anesthesia to the possibility of animals developing self-injurious behavior due to pain, warned Chen Young, of Lianhe Veterinary Hospital in the southeastern city of Shenzhen.

The criticisms of the experts have been joined by those of numerous Chinese Internet users who have harshly criticized the “doll ears” fashion. Mickey Mouse”.

“If the owners find it so adorable, let them cut off their own ears,” one user snapped, while another considered the practice to be “animal abuse, not love.”” and a third wondered if those who mutilate the tails and ears of animals animals they are sick.