If you have ever been a fan of Jim Carrey’s role in Ace Venture: Pet Detective, you might be interested to know that China has a real-life pet detective of its own.
Sun Jinrong, who’s actually known as China’s first pet detective, has returned more than 1,000 missing animals to their owners over the course of his 7-year career.
Described as a stone-faced animal lover, clients can pay around $1,100 for the return of their lost furry friends, utilizing services that include seeking out pets with hi-tech thermal imaging cameras and heat sensors, as well as snake cameras—or “endoscopes”.
Dog ownership was banned under Communist Party leader Mao Zedong as being a decadent privilege reserved for the bourgeoisie—but since the decades have reversed this outlook, there are now 91.5 million pet cats and dogs in the country, keeping Sun Jinrong hard at work in eastern Shanghai.
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“Most pet owners get very flustered,” Sun told Breaking Asia. “They don’t even own a flashlight. They can only look for cats in the dark by the weak light of their phones.”
Adapting hunting techniques into his methods, he usually carries a blowgun, and is an expert at shooting tranquilizing darts at missing cats who are especially wary of approaching humans. “We have no predecessors in this industry. We are all crossing the river by feeling the stones,” he tells Breaking Asia, using a famous Chinese saying.
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“You have to be extremely careful when capturing pets. You can’t catch small dogs like Pomeranians with a net. Their hearts are very small. It could kill them,” says Jinrong.
Breaking Asia details one story of Jinrong seeking a missing cat named Duoduo. Jinrong had to wait up for hours in a camouflaged blind with his cameras until midnight before finding him.
“When our case is solved, it’s basically a reunion,” he muses. “It’s a happy moment.”
(WATCH Jinrong in action as he searches for Duoduo)
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