It's still a dog's life for pets on the mainland

With basic human rights flouted on a regular basis on the mainland, what chance do animals have of being protected by the law? Precious little, if the recent dog cull in Hanzhong, Shaanxi province is anything to go by. At least 36,000 have been killed by local officials over the last month, in response to a rabies outbreak that has resulted in the deaths of 12 people over the last three months.

The pictures of groups of men chasing down any dog roaming the streets, whether a stray or a pet, and then beating them to death with bamboo poles are repugnant and have sparked outrage at home. It is medieval behaviour, and hardly appropriate for a country that increasingly wants to present itself as a force for good in the world.

That carefully nurtured image has taken a battering with the widespread reporting of the cull in the overseas media. To many foreigners, it confirms that the mainland remains a place where even the most domesticated animals can be killed at will.

Currently, there is no animal welfare legislation on the mainland, so there are no penalties for people who abuse animals. While a draft law on animal protection is being considered, it is not on the agenda of the National People's Congress Standing Committee for the current five-year session. It is unlikely to become law until 2014 at the earliest.

The next time there is a rabies outbreak, the bamboo pole squads will be in action again, just as they were in Yunnan in 2007, when 50,000 dogs died. That's despite the fact that the most efficient way of preventing the spread of rabies is to have dogs registered so authorities can monitor whether they have been inoculated against the disease.

But the price of registering a dog remains prohibitive: until last year in Guangzhou, it cost more to register a dog than a new car. In country areas, where incomes are low, many people simply can't afford it.