Chinese cities put dogs on tight leash after spate of attacks
- But clampdown on pet pooches met with howls of protest from owners on social media
- Animal welfare campaigner says better understanding of law, not more rules, needed
Chinese cities are clamping down on pets after a recent spate of dog attacks and an incident last week in Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Zhejiang province, in which a woman was beaten by a dog owner for chasing his unleashed pet away from her frightened child.
Also last week, the city of Wenshan in the southwestern province of Yunnan found itself at the centre of a controversy for banning its residents from walking their dogs on the street between 7am and 10pm each day.
This week, Hangzhou became the first of a number of cities to enforce and revise strict pet keeping policies. The government announced that from Thursday until the end of December, it would “clean up uncivilised dog-keeping behaviour”.
The rules say dogs in Hangzhou can be exercised only between 7pm and 7am and are prohibited from public spaces such as parks, markets or schools. Owners who walk dogs off the leash will face fines of up to 1,000 yuan (US$143), while unlicensed dogs will be impounded and their owners fined up to 10,000 yuan.
More cities are likely to follow Hangzhou’s example by passing new laws and enforcing the rules already on the books. China’s highly vocal internet users rallied behind the woman and demanded stricter measures on pet keeping. But the announcement of the restrictions on pets led to a backlash as dog owners said they thought some measures were too harsh and unreasonable.
“The time limit means our dogs can only live in the dark,” one post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, said. “This does not even solve the issue. Uncivilised dog-keeping behaviour can cause injuries no matter what time.”