Series of measures offer comfort to animals and their owners

Netizens in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, have shared pictures on Sina Weibo of their pets receiving certificates bearing the words "Little heroes against COVID-19".

One of these certificates was awarded to Fu Zai, a British short-hair cat, who spent about 20 days at a pet care center while his owner was undergoing centralized quarantine for COVID-19.

The certificate stated: "Dear Fu Zai, in view of your excellent performance at the pet center, cooperating with inspection, feeding, walking and other tasks, and successfully defeating the pandemic, the organizing committee has decided to award you the title Anti-pandemic Little Hero. This certificate is hereby issued to you and we hope that you will grow up healthy and happy!"

On Thursday, a netizen posted the certificate on Sina Weibo, where it quickly trended, attracting more than 11,000 comments and 276,000 likes.

However, the back of the certificate carried a few words from Fu Zai's carer, who stated, "Your naughtiness really gave us a headache for some time when you first arrived."

On Friday, Shenzhen announced that its first centralized pet care center had been placed in trial operation, offering kenneling services to animal owners undergoing centralized quarantine for COVID-19. Once the center officially opens, it will be able to house a maximum of 300 dogs and cats, while its operation and maintenance will be handled by the city's market supervision and administration bureau.

Friday's announcement quickly resulted in the topic "China's first official makeshift center for pets "trending online. The decision to launch the center was made after similar pet care facilities were set up last month at the Shangsha community in the city's Futian district. These centers proved successful in caring for more than 200 pets, including Fu Zai.

Other cities, including Changsha, capital of Hunan province, and Chengdu, the Sichuan provincial capital, are offering such services for pets as China grapples with a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

On March 16, the pandemic control command in Futian issued a notice stating that the Shangsha community had been classified as a medium-risk area. Some residents in the community were asked to relocate to centralized quarantine sites for 14 days for their health to be monitored. Making arrangements for pets while their owners were away became a problem.

Some residents volunteered to collate pet owners' requests from social media platforms, handing the requests to community workers. On March 17, the local authorities issued another notice, informing residents that medical workers would visit them to disinfect their animals and take them to centralized care centers.

On the same day, New Ruipeng Pet Healthcare Group was commissioned to provide professional care services for animals.

Kong Debin, a vet from the healthcare group, told Southern Weekly the company quickly formed a team of volunteers and they began work on March 17. A hotline for pet boarding opened that evening and government officials and volunteers held a meeting at which they decided to set up makeshift pet care centers.

Nobody at the meeting had a clear idea of how many pets would need such a service, but it was agreed to ensure the health of each animal and not to let owners in quarantine become more anxious about arrangements for their pets, Kong said.

Construction of the first care center began at about 1 am on March 18 and it was put into use five hours later. Volunteers disinfected the facility twice a day and cleaned cages to maintain a dust-free, sterile environment. A week later, the second center was built close to the first, which was fully occupied.