A Law That Says Man Can Have Only One 'Best Friend'

[Guest guest]

Excellent photos by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times go with this article.

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Beijing Journal

A Law That Says Man Can Have Only One 'Best Friend'

By JIM YARDLEY

New York Times

November 14, 2006

 

BEIJING, Nov. 13 — Wu Tianyu gave fair warning about the odor and then pushed

open the heavy metal door to the ground-floor apartment. The smell rushed out,

and so did the tiny dogs, tongues wagging, yipping, unaware of their central

role in an issue gripping China's capital city.

 

The small apartment was the equivalent of a safe house: Ms. Wu, head of a local

animal rescue association, had stashed about 10 strays and handicapped mutts.

She said the dogs, one paralyzed, another recovering from a broken spine, should

be exempt from a new " strike hard " campaign against dogs in Beijing. But she was

not certain.

 

" They cannot move out these dogs! " she declared. But then she hesitated

slightly, " How could they do it? "

 

Beijing is a city of at least 12 million people and at least a million dogs,

about half of which are unregistered and deemed fugitives in the eyes of the

local police.

 

The complication, of course, is that many of these fugitives are also beloved

pets, so confrontation is almost inevitable and has been rising in recent weeks

as the police have begun a swift and harsh crackdown against illegal dogs.

 

The police have already rejected applications by different pet advocacy groups

to stage demonstrations. On Saturday, at least 100 police officers blocked roads

as a large crowd congregated outside the city zoo. One participant said officers

manhandled and detained more than 20 people who tried to hand out leaflets

promoting animal protection. The people were released later the same day.

 

The conflict is over city regulations that limit households in eight designated

districts to a single dog and also forbid people from owning large dogs like

golden retrievers and huskies.

 

The regulations, considered misguided by many dog owners, were introduced in

2003 but have been only loosely enforced as the city's pet industry has boomed.

Dogs in Beijing can now eat at a dog restaurant, be groomed at a dog boutique

and swim in an outdoor dog lap pool.

 

Last Tuesday, though, Beijing newspapers carried a notice about the new

campaign, under way since October, concerning " pet dog management work. " It said

households with too many dogs, or with big dogs, would have 10 days to relocate

them. In essence, owners had 10 days to get rid of the dogs or the police would

do it for them.

 

The note also promised to pay rewards to people who helped the police catch

neighbors violating the dog rules.

 

Anxiety and outrage have quickly spread among dog owners. Several reported that

the police were already apprehending large dogs in apartment compounds and had

even entered individual apartments to seize some dogs. Web sites posted

photographs of dogs crammed into holding pens at dingy city pounds. Another

Internet posting warned that a slaughter of stray dogs and cats would begin next

week.

 

" We are all worried, " said a woman who owns several dogs and asked not to be

identified for fear the police would try to seize her pets. She is building a

kennel in her uncle's village in nearby Hebei Province to ensure that her dogs

and others are not seized.

 

Rabies is the primary reason offered for the new crackdown. Nationally, China

reported that 1,735 people died from the disease between January and August, a

29 percent increase from the period a year earlier. The Ministry of Health said

growing numbers of people were taking dogs as pets without properly vaccinating

them.

 

But what has horrified pet advocates worldwide is the brutal solution that some

places in China have adopted to solve the rabies problem. This summer, officials

in one section of Yunnan Province ordered an extermination campaign that led to

the slaughter of more than 54,000 dogs. Another smaller extermination drive was

held in Shandong Province.

 

Grace Ge Gabriel, the Asia director for the International Fund for Animal

Welfare, said her group agreed that dog owners should vaccinate their pets and

register them. But she said Beijing's current ban against big dogs was

wrongheaded because it was based on the premise that they are more vicious.

 

She also said that using rabies to justify the crackdown was misleading because

Beijing did not have a rabies problem, a point confirmed by a state media

report.

 

Last Friday, at the Huayuan Street police precinct in the northeastern quadrant

of the city, a red-and-white banner stated: " If You Have a Dog, You Need a

License. " Inside, at the Dog Management Office, Shi Chenhe said he had

registered 10 new dogs in recent days and argued that rabies and dog bites were

serious problems in Beijing.

 

He said officials wanted to ensure that no one was bitten and injured during the

2008 Olympics. " Of course, it is related to the Games, " Mr. Shi said.

" Everything needs to be cleaned up before the Olympics. "

 

Mr. Shi said that officers in his precinct had not begun cracking down on

illegal dogs but that each police district was handling the issue differently.

" We’re waiting to be notified, " he said.

 

Ms. Wu, the head of the association for stray dogs, has been racing to different

meetings with dog advocates, trying to find a solution, and some dog owners have

told her they will defend their dogs at any cost.

 

" People are saying that if they have to, they will fight back, " Ms. Wu said. " I

told the young people that they shouldn’t fight back. It is the order of the

government. If you fight back, it will hurt the dogs in the long run. "

 

Across town at a trendy pet store, Man Qingwei, 32, helped hold down his two

border collies on Friday afternoon as an attendant cleaned the dogs' ears with a

cotton swab. Mr. Man bought the dogs recently even though he knew their size

violated city regulations. " Of course, we hide them, " Mr. Man said as his

girlfriend patted the collies. " I have to sneak them out quickly into my car. "

 

Mr. Man said he wanted dog owners to organize to force the city to change the

rules. " I think the one-dog rule is ridiculous, " he said. " It's a matter of

one's personal life and tastes. You should be able to have as many dogs as you

like. "

 

Mr. Man said that he and his girlfriend owned several dogs but that the new

regulations were making ordinary tasks difficult. " We can no longer walk them, "

he said. " I'm thinking about buying them a treadmill. "

 

-Photo: Pets enjoy the Coolbaby Dog Theme Park in Beijing [Photo Ruth

Fremson/The New York Times]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/11/14/world/14dog.xlarge1.jpg

 

-Photos & Audio: Year of the dog [Photos and voice of Ruth Fremson/The New York

Times]

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/11/14/world/20061113_DOGS_AUDIOSS.htm\

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Lin Yang contributed research.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/world/asia/14dogs.html?ref=world