Animal rights group ordered to pay vet fees

Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court has upheld a previous court ruling against an animal rights group ordering it to pay veterinary bills for hundreds of dogs it rescued from the slaughterhouse in 2011, Beijing News reported on Monday.

On April 15, 2011, a group of volunteers from the China Small Animal Protection Association rescued more than 500 dogs packed onto a truck on the Beijing-Harbin expressway. The dogs had been headed for slaughterhouses in Changchun, Jilin province.

A driver on the expressway had noticed the dogs on the truck and posted the news on the Tencent micro blog service, prompting animal rescue volunteers to stop the truck and negotiate the dog's release.

Although some of the dogs did not survive their ordeal, many others were successfully treated for dehydration and other illnesses at various animal hospitals.

Sun Zhonghuai, Tencent's vice-president, said at the time that his company would pay for the care of the dogs.

Though the association paid 4,695 yuan ($770) and Tencent paid 500,000 yuan for veterinary fees in 2011, they still failed to cover all the costs.

Later, 10 animal hospitals filed a lawsuit demanding that the animal welfare group pay a further 500,000 yuan to cover outstanding expenses.

In July 2013, Beijing Haidian District People's Court ruled that the association should pay more than 400,000 yuan to the 10 hospitals concerned, but said that Tencent was not liable to pay anything.

The association later lodged an appeal against the court ruling, but the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court overturned the appeal on Monday.