Shanghai's first downtown collection station for dead pets opened to the public on January 28. Three animal corpses were dropped off thus far.

The station is about a five- minute walk from Shilong Road Station of the city's No. 3 Metro Line.

"The new center will be convenient for people needing to dispose their dead pets," Cai Xianhua, manager of the station, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.

He said it only charges 5 yuan (60 US cents) to receive and dispose of each dead pet.

With a total investment of about 140,000 yuan by the government, the center includes an ice storage "container" with the capacity to handle five tons of dead animals.

Cai said the dead animals' corpses are transported to a pet incineration center in Fengxian District once a week.

He said the center can also retrieve pet remains, help owners bury dead animals and even provide a tombstone for burial in suburban districts. The whole service costs about 200 yuan.

For years, improper treatment of dead pets was a severe environmental problem. Most individuals just didn't know what to do with dead cats, dogs, birds, etc.

Some were buried in backyards while others were thrown into garbage bins like normal waste. Some people even tossed dead pets into Suzhou Creek, creating a health hazard to residents.

Zhao Guotong, an expert in environmental sciences, said: "If any pets die from congenital diseases or rabies and their corpses are not treated properly, they could easily spread bacteria to humans."

Last month, several Shanghai People's Congress deputies submitted a proposal to the city's premier lawmaking panel. They proposed setting up a pet management law that pinpoints the proper treatment of dead animals.

Chen Huijun, a pet owner who works for a Japanese trade company, said: "Hopefully, the new collection station will have a close relationship with all the pet clinics so that ailing or dead pets can be timely treated."

(eastday.com February 4, 2005)