DOGS CAN sleep more easily tonight in the southern Chinese city of Jiangmen after city officials rowed back on a plan to cull them following widespread accusations of animal cruelty.
Originally the city had planned to “clear illegally raised dogs” from its downtown area after a spate of dog attacks resulted in a high incidence of rabies.
Dog owners were ordered to bring their pets to special stations, where they would be either put to sleep or given new owners in the countryside. Dogcatchers would then team up with police to search for “illegal dogs” and any strays would be killed on the spot.
Dog attacks were a big problem in the city of nearly four million.
According to Xinhua news agency, 12,014 people were injured by dogs last year and 42 people died of rabies between 2008 and 2010. However, there was outrage among locals, and news of the Jiangmen ruling spread on the web, with large numbers slamming what they saw as inhumane behaviour.
“The key problem is to educate people to raise dogs in a civilised way rather than simply ban dogs,” local Wang Yubin said.
The rules are still pretty harsh. From now on, pet dogs are banned from public places such as parks, squares and shopping malls. Residents who take dogs to public venues “would be advised to leave”. And for attacks, dog owners would be responsible for medical bills, lost wages and other compensation, the report said.
Owners have until August 26th to license their pets but the details remain unclear. On the Facebook-like site, Sinaweibo, the reaction ranged from wry to outraged.
“So, because a top official in Jiangmen gets bitten by a dog, the whole city is forbidden to have a dog? Does that mean if a person hit him, they would kill all the people in Jiangmen?” asked Wu Gaolong.
Another commentator, who gave their name as Huixian Zhao, wrote: “While other cities are promoting dog ownership, the Jiangmen government bans dogs. You think by killing dogs you can call yourself civilised?”
Online there has been a debate on control of dog ownership. “It’s fine to have dogs, but some owners don’t know how to raise dogs in a civilised way,” wrote one person.