BEIJING – More than 100,000 dogs have been registered so far this year in Beijing, bringing the total number to 703,879 from the end of last year and giving rise to a “string of social problems”, said the local authority responsible for dog control.
A spokesman complained that dogs are “rivaling” human beings for space of movement.
Public complaints are on the increase about dogs urinating in the streets and loud barking. The number of abandoned and stray dogs is growing, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Attacks on human beings by dogs are also rising, the spokesman said.
Data from the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau shows that about 83,000 people have been injured by dogs from bites or scratches so far this year, up 33.7 per cent from a year earlier
Last year, 140,000 Beijingers sought medical attention after being attacked by dogs or cats.
Beijing introduced a “one family, one dog” policy last year, a move that brought protests from pet owners.
Rabies has stayed at the top of the list of fatal infectious diseases in China for more than a year and claimed 1,043 lives across the country in the first five months of this year.
