With the increase of pet owners in China, a new profession that helps find lost pets is gaining popularity: pet detectives.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), more people in China are entering the animal detective business, which offers a service for finding missing pets. Most are self-employed, promoting their services through social media and e-commerce platforms. On China’s online second-hand market, Xianyu, the search volume for the keyword looking for cats and dogs has nearly quadrupled in the first half of this year. As the demand continuously increases, those related to the animal detective agencies are currently earning up to 30,000 yuan (about $4,100) a month.
However, several requirements are followed to become an animal detective. Since animals tend to hide in places that could be hard to explore, good physical strength, good eyesight, and logical reasoning abilities are necessary. Practical knowledge and experience with modern technology, such as thermal imaging cameras and drones, are essential. Liu Wei, a current pet detective, said via Chinese media that “the cost of the equipment required for this job alone is 20,000 yuan (about $3,100).”
The popularity of unique jobs like animal detectives is due to the rapid growth of China’s pet market, the second largest in the world, following the United States. Market research firm iMedia Research reported that the size of China’s pet market was 97.8 billion yuan (about $13 billion) in 2015, but in 4 years, it grew to 593 billion yuan (about $82 billion). According to the China Pet Industry White Paper 2023-2024 released by a Chinese marketing company, the number of dogs as a pet in China last year was 52 million, and the cats were 70 million, totaling over 100 million. Global market research firm Research and Markets predicts that the number of pets in China will reach 200 million by next year.
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