Shanghai's Public Security Bureau said yesterday that the city's people will not be allowed to walk their dogs on streets and any other public areas any more in downtown Shanghai, Shanghai Morning News reported.

The regulation was designed to prevent dogs from damaging green areas and other public facilities, environment and from hurting people, officials said.

The city will tighten its control over raising dogs from now on, officials said.

Dog raisers will also not be allowed to bring their pets onto buses and other public vehicles if not for medical treatment or other tests for their dogs.

They will also have to hang on their home doors the plates issued by the bureau reading that the dog is "licensed".

One family will be allowed to raise one dog only, officials said.

The authority will confiscate dogs from owners who break the rules and will give a penalty of from 200yuan (US$24) to 1,000yuan.

Many dog raisers said the rules of stopping them from taking their pets out of home almost result in no difference with stopping them raising the pets, the newspaper said.

Experts from the Huangpu District Disease Prevention and Control Center said in the city, cases of hurts by licensed dogs are not few. Local residents better not raise dogs, they said, for the hurts and infectious diseases caused by dogs are really hard to prevent.

(easyday.com December 4, 2001)