Chinese city mulls 'one-dog policy', bans 'ferocious' breeds
Users compare the new rule to the draconian policies which had limited couples to one child per family for decades
A resident walks his pet dog past the Wumen Gate at the Forbidden City in Beijing. PHOTO: Reuters
After China's one-child policy, the government in the Chinese city of Qingdao is now seeking to control the limit of dogs allowed in each household.
The city has also banned 40 breeds of dogs for residents living in the downtown districts saying the dogs were "ferocious". The breeds included Tibetan mastiffs, Akitas and German shepherds.
Now the city's government plans on keeping a restriction of one dog per household. "The initiative came about when the government saw that more and more people are raising dogs, which has led to some dogs disturbing residents, and even cases of them injuring people”, an anonymous official told the media.
In recent years the ownership of dogs has increased dramatically as the growing Chinese middle class gives priority to the quality of life over savings.
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The majority of the pet-owners are aged 45 and below. There were approximately 100 million pets in China in 2015 of which 62 per cent were dogs followed by cats who were 19 per cent.
Dogs are seen as status symbols, however, the trend of breeds keep changing. Pet ownership has been growing at roughly 10 per cent per year in the country.
The government's move to restrict the number of dogs per household was met with a lot of criticism online. Many users compared the new rule to the draconian policies which had limited couples to one child per family for decades, leading to forced abortions and hefty fines.
A user on a famous Twitter-like service in China, Sina Weibo, said, “In the past we implemented the one-child policy, now we have the one-dog policy, we do not know how many innocent lives will again be killed.”
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Others raised concerns over the vagueness over the banned breeds, questioning what is to be done about those who already have them as pets. A user wrote “If I have one of the banned breeds, should I just kill it? According to these rules I have no other choice.”
According to the one-dog policy, owners must give their dog to an adoption agency. Furthermore, the new rules establish fines over mistreatment, abandonment and slaughter of dogs, imposing a fine of 2,000 yuan. Under the new rules the dogs need to be registered with the authorities as well.
Other cities in China have attempted to impose the one-dog policy too. While the city of Chengdu has imposed the policy since 2009 and Changzhou tried to impose a similar rule, it was not implemented because of residents' outrage.
The harshest measure was perhaps the one imposed in the city of Jinan, where authorities threatened beating to death any dogs which were found inside residences.
This article originally appeared on The Guardian.
The city has also banned 40 breeds of dogs for residents living in the downtown districts saying the dogs were "ferocious". The breeds included Tibetan mastiffs, Akitas and German shepherds.
Now the city's government plans on keeping a restriction of one dog per household. "The initiative came about when the government saw that more and more people are raising dogs, which has led to some dogs disturbing residents, and even cases of them injuring people”, an anonymous official told the media.
In recent years the ownership of dogs has increased dramatically as the growing Chinese middle class gives priority to the quality of life over savings.
Tragic end: Stray dogs maul boy to death
The majority of the pet-owners are aged 45 and below. There were approximately 100 million pets in China in 2015 of which 62 per cent were dogs followed by cats who were 19 per cent.
Dogs are seen as status symbols, however, the trend of breeds keep changing. Pet ownership has been growing at roughly 10 per cent per year in the country.
The government's move to restrict the number of dogs per household was met with a lot of criticism online. Many users compared the new rule to the draconian policies which had limited couples to one child per family for decades, leading to forced abortions and hefty fines.
A user on a famous Twitter-like service in China, Sina Weibo, said, “In the past we implemented the one-child policy, now we have the one-dog policy, we do not know how many innocent lives will again be killed.”
10-year-old dog attack victim dies of doctors’ apathy
Others raised concerns over the vagueness over the banned breeds, questioning what is to be done about those who already have them as pets. A user wrote “If I have one of the banned breeds, should I just kill it? According to these rules I have no other choice.”
According to the one-dog policy, owners must give their dog to an adoption agency. Furthermore, the new rules establish fines over mistreatment, abandonment and slaughter of dogs, imposing a fine of 2,000 yuan. Under the new rules the dogs need to be registered with the authorities as well.
Other cities in China have attempted to impose the one-dog policy too. While the city of Chengdu has imposed the policy since 2009 and Changzhou tried to impose a similar rule, it was not implemented because of residents' outrage.
The harshest measure was perhaps the one imposed in the city of Jinan, where authorities threatened beating to death any dogs which were found inside residences.
This article originally appeared on The Guardian.