Commentary China has an odd relationship with animals. For example, it is now illegal to walk your dog without a leash; yet, in almost every village, town, and city, it’s not illegal to consume dog meat. Across the country, even as rates of pet ownership increase, acts of animal cruelty appear to know no bounds. In a recent piece for the South China Morning Post, the journalist Phoebe Zhang discussed the dread felt by so many pet owners living in China. “If I happen to catch Covid-19, what if my cat starves to death or gets killed while I’m in quarantine?” asked one woman, interviewed by Zhang. Since early 2020, when the virus started to bring Chinese society to a halt, pets of coronavirus patients have been “forcefully killed by local governments as part of their strict virus prevention measures,” according to Zhang. Of course, some animals, especially those that contract …