Animal rights becomes key issue in Japan's general election

As campaigning for the Oct. 31 general election heats up in Japan, ruling and opposition parties are not just touting their economic and diplomatic policies but also their plans for protecting animals in the hope of attracting broader support among voters.Amid growing awareness of the tens of thousands of cats and dogs culled in the country annually and the issue of animal hoarding attracting public attention, a cross-party parliamentary group has worked on legal revisions, with the Diet enacting in 2019 a law that boosts penalties for animal abuse and requires that pets be microchipped.In …READ FULL ARTICLE