City changes mind on dogs
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Shanghai Daily, August 5, 2011
A Chinese city has changed its mind over a plan to "clear" all illegal dogs from its streets, just nine days after the ruling was announced.
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City changes mind on dogs |
The government of Jiangmen City in Guangdong Province had been accused of animal cruelty and its original ruling had outraged local residents.
It has now announced a revised version incorporating suggestions from local residents, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
Under the new rules, pet dogs will be banned from public places such as parks, squares and shopping malls. Residents who take dogs to public venues "would be advised to leave." And in the case of attacks, dog owners would be responsible for all medical bills, lost wages and other compensation, the report said.
Dog attacks have been one of the biggest causes of complaint for the residents of Jiangmen.
A total of 12,014 people were injured by dogs last year and 42 people had died from rabies between 2008 to 2010, the local health authority told Xinhua.
"The key problem is to educate people to raise dogs in a civilized way rather than simply ban dogs," local resident Wang Yubin was quoted as saying.
Jiangmen's original plan was to "clear illegally raised dogs" from its downtown area. Government employees would team up with police to search for "illegal dogs."
Owners had until August 26 to license their pets but how they could do so in time was unclear as no procedure had been suggested.
In a response to the original ruling, Hui Hui, leader of a Shanghai-based animal protection group, said that the government had planned to kill dogs on the spot, something he described as "pure cruelty."
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