Chinese city bans dogs from the street for 15 hours a day to stop attacks
- Online critics say the rules will exhaust owners by forcing them to get up early and go to bed late to walk their pets
A city in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan is at the centre of controversy for banning its residents from walking their pet dogs on the street between 7am and 10pm every day.
Authorities in the city of Wenshan also ordered that all dogs in public places be put on a leash no longer than one metre and that only adults were allowed to exercise the animals, according to a notice posted on the municipal government’s website.
A Wenshan animal health inspector said the ban was meant to prevent dog attacks and the spread of rabies, Shanghai-based news site Thepaper.cn reported on Tuesday.
News site Pear Video quoted a Wenshan urban management official as saying the rules were introduced in response to residents’ complaints.
The official said the start time was chosen to avoid disturbing people out exercising or on their way to work.
“There are many people about [after 7am] and they will be inconvenienced by having dogs around them,” the unnamed official said. After 10pm, there would be almost no people on the street, she said.