At our organization dedicated to animal rights, we are committed to transforming awareness into tangible action. Recognizing the growing challenges of stray animals, pet abandonment, and ethical animal care in China's rapidly urbanizing society, we launched the "Urban-Rural Animal Care Initiative." This project exemplifies our proactive approach to addressing animal compassion issues by combining academic theory, hands-on fieldwork, and community engagement. Through this initiative, we not only highlight societal disparities in animal care but also empower participants to advocate for humane practices, demonstrating our unwavering action in fostering harmony between humans and animals.

The initiative focused on exploring how China's urban-rural divide influences attitudes toward pets and stray animals. We designed this as a comprehensive program blending theoretical learning with practical investigation, where we organized collaborative sessions to study relevant animal ethics and animal rights theories, drawing from non-anthropocentric perspectives and Peter Singer and Tom Regan's animal rights philosophy, which emphasize the inherent value of sentient beings like stray animals. Building on this foundation, our structured approach included literature reviews to grasp the current state of research and form hypotheses, continued analysis of animal protection literature to dissect methodologies, content analysis of short videos on animal themes to understand public perceptions, questionnaire design and distribution using tools like SPSS to gather data on animal care attitudes, and guidance on material analysis to synthesize collected information into effective viewpoints and conclusions.

Action is at the heart of our work, so we didn't stop at theory—we ventured into the field for a six-day immersive survey in Bai Shui Dong Village, Hunan Province, a Yao ethnic community known for its cultural heritage and rural lifestyle, located in the peaks of Xuefeng Mountains at an average elevation of 1,100 meters, with 514 households and a population of 1,940, where Yao people make up 52.8 percent. This village provided a stark contrast to urban environments, allowing us to observe animal care in a traditional setting. On Day 1, we arrived at Xupu South Station in the afternoon, proceeded to Bai Shui Dong Village, designed targeted interview questions based on our preparatory learning, and conducted an initial exploration of the village's social life and background; in the evening, we documented the fieldwork context to set the stage for deeper observations. Day 2 began with a survey at the Hua Yao Milan Plant Dyeing Workshop, where we observed daily interactions between dogs and their owners, noting how animals integrate into local craftsmanship and family routines; in the afternoon, we visited the Hu Jiu Wu Yu Tea Factory in the village, examining dynamics among dogs, owners, and tourists to understand community-level animal roles, and spent the evening organizing the day's collected data for analysis. On Day 3, the morning involved surveying villagers along the streets, engaging in conversations about pet ownership, stray animals, and traditional practices; the afternoon shifted to the Xiang Cun Yin Ji Homestay for further observations of dog-owner lifestyles, capturing nuances in emotional bonds and practical care. Day 4, we travelled to Changsha, dedicated to surveying and observing pet shelters and pet cafes there, immersing ourselves in urban animal interactions. Day 5 was fully devoted to explorations of various pet shelters and cafes in Changsha, documenting how city residents engage with animals in commercial spaces that blend leisure with informal rescue efforts. Finally, on Day 6, we focused on case study analysis to organize and synthesize the findings, followed by completing the draft of the report.

Through interviews with locals like Tan and Peng, we gathered firsthand data on rural pet practices—for instance, villagers often raise "tu gou" (native dogs) for companionship and home guarding, feeding them household leftovers and relying on simple remedies like penicillin or herbal grasses for illnesses, while discussions revealed cultural habits such as occasional dog consumption in winter and attitudes toward wildlife. These insights revealed utilitarian views of animals in rural areas—prioritizing utility and community sharing—contrasted with urban emotional anthropomorphism, where pets alleviate stress but contribute to abandonment dilemmas. Our study uncovered profound urban-rural disparities in animal care across cognitive, emotional, and action dimensions: in cognition, rural areas view animals functionally with limited personification, while urban residents highly anthropomorphize pets as emotional companions; emotionally, villages foster low-cost mutual aid networks, suppressing abandonment through practical bonds, whereas cities use animals for stress relief yet face responsibility challenges; and in action, rural strategies include traditional medicine and community sharing, while urban pet shelters blend business activities with rescue, blurring commercial and compassionate lines. These findings exposed ethical dilemmas, such as urban "hierarchical" animal rights (pets over strays) and rural views of animals as disposable resources. In our report, we documented these insights, proposing solutions like differentiated responsibility systems, narrative reconstructions via media, and localized policies for animal protection.

In conclusion, the initiative's outcomes honed our team's ability to apply knowledge to real-world problems, boosted critical thinking, and showcased our passion for social sciences and humane care, with participants gaining practical experience in social surveys that reinforced our organization's role in driving change. This project underscores our action-oriented ethos—we don't just discuss animal rights; we investigate, educate, and advocate. By bridging urban-rural gaps, we're paving the way for ethical advancements in animal care, aligning with broader goals of human-nature harmony. Join us in future initiatives to amplify compassion for all creatures.