Life in Beijing | China housing estates’ war on unleashed dogs unlikely to resolve rising tensions
Hong Kong expat has never got used to his Beijing housing estate being a playground for scary-looking huskies, and scandal over defective rabies vaccine only adds to nerves about unleashed dogs
China’s defective rabies vaccine scandal has only further inflamed existing hostility towards dog owners that don’t use a leash when walking their pet.
Chan Pak-hang from Hong Kong, who has lived in a private housing estate in Daxing, Beijing for three years, says he encounters boisterous golden retrievers and intimidating-looking huskies whenever he leaves his home to go for a walk.
“Unlike dog owners in Hong Kong, 90 per cent of the people I see with dogs here let them roam free. It’s like a playground downstairs, with all the dogs running around,” Chan says. “Dog owners always say their dogs are not aggressive and [that they] will never bite people, but they fail to understand that dogs are animals. They are docile to their owners, but when boisterous kids unwittingly provoke them, they might turn aggressive.”
Recently, a poster was placed at the entrance to the private Dejingyuan housing estate in the city of Changde, in the central Hunan province. Posted by a landlord who lives on the estate, it carried a strongly worded warning to his dog-walking neighbours who let their pets roam free in the estate.
