Canine infestation control becomes a new test of urban civilization

The number of stray dogs without an owner is soaring, and the dog problem is poking at the city management “pain points “.

Dog control becomes the new test of urban civilization.

The reason why stray dogs have gradually become a “problem” in many cities is that owners have abandoned their dogs, lost their pets, and the uncontrolled breeding of stray dogs.

● As the number of urban pet dogs increases, the social problems caused by dog ownership are becoming more and more serious, and many deep-seated problems have not been fully exposed, nor have they attracted the attention of the legislative, law enforcement and epidemic prevention departments.

The laws and policies on stray dogs should be in line with common sense and rationality, and dog lovers should also be aware of self-discipline, so that they can exercise some control over the act of abandoning dogs at will.

Recently, a video of an incident in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, in which a city manager beat a stray dog with a stick, has been circulating on the Internet, causing some domestic pet protection organizations to voice their doubts, thus forming a “support for cleaning up stray dogs” and “opposition to the abuse of stray dogs”. " and other almost opposing viewpoints.

After the incident, the police investigation found that the black stray dog that was clubbed had chased and bitten passersby in the neighborhood many times, and the public had called the police many times.

The topic of stray dog management has caused a lot of discussion among legal professionals.

At present, people’s living conditions have improved, raising a pet dog has gradually become the choice of many urban families, but walking a dog without a leash, dogs do not clean up their messes, barking and other phenomena also bring a lot of trouble to others. In addition, a large number of stray dogs abandoned or naturally bred after being abandoned can easily spread rabies and other diseases.

On November 23rd, the “Rule of Law Daily” reporter went to Wuxi City for an interview.

Wilful abandonment of disorderly breeding

**Dogs in distress Dogs in distress

In August 2020, in Guangzhou, an 88-year-old man tripped over his leash and died.

Similar cases of dog injuries have been repeated in most cities.

On the evening of August 16, 2020, Ms. Qian, who lives in Binhu District, Wuxi City, was returning home from work when two stray dogs suddenly came out of nowhere and growled at her. Ms. Qian was about to lean against the wall carefully when one of the stray dogs suddenly rushed up and bit her left leg, and she couldn’t get away, so she could only cry out for help.

Fortunately, two passers-by drove the biting stray away with rocks and branches. Ms. Qian’s calf was bitten so badly that she was sent to the hospital with 11 stitches and a rabies vaccine.

However, it was very difficult for Ms. Qian to find the dog’s owner to defend her rights, and in the end she had to bear the injuries and losses caused by the “dog bite” incident herself.

Traffic accidents caused by stray dogs also occur from time to time.

At noon on January 15, 2020, Mr. Xia, a citizen of Wuxi, was driving his car through the Xin Gang Bridge tunnel in the city, when a stray dog suddenly sprang out of the woods in front of him, Mr. Xia had to hit the steering wheel, and the front of the car could not avoid hitting the tunnel column, Mr. Xia also hit the front windshield of the vehicle heavily, causing a slight concussion.

As the accident was caused by avoiding a stray dog, the repair costs and medical expenses can only be borne by Mr. Xia himself.

According to the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau, there have been more than 17,000 police cases of nuisance, injury, traffic accidents and environmental pollution caused by dogs alone in the city since 2020, 70% of which were related to stray dogs.

“There were more than 200 police cases of stray dogs and unattended domestic dogs biting and injuring people. There were more than 160 traffic accidents caused by stray dogs running amok and walking dogs off leash.” Zhou Guoqing, deputy director of the Wuxi Dog Management Working Group Office, said.

In order to compare with the situation in other cities, on November 23, a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily specially contacted three public security police stations in Nanjing to learn about the situation of taking in stray dogs, one of which has arrested 205 stray dogs this year, one has taken in 151, and the other has taken in about 70.

“If it wasn’t for this round of intensive cleaning and sheltering, the stray dogs would be almost out of control.” A staff member at one of the above-mentioned police stations said.

Sheltering stray dogs without owners.

Government Billing Burden is Staggering

Starting from November 11, 2020, Wuxi City will carry out a month of unified action on “walking dogs off leash and not cleaning up dog feces”, in which the city administration department will strictly enforce the law in recreational plazas, public green areas, neighborhoods and surrounding roads, focusing on the registration of dogs according to the law, sheltering stray dogs and investigating and dealing with stray dogs. Illegal and uncivilized dog breeding behavior.

Since November 11 to 23, the city’s law enforcement departments to investigate and correct the dog on a leash, defecation does not clean up and other acts 655, of which 471 people administrative punishment, and took in a number of orphaned dogs, stray dogs.

The reason why stray dogs have gradually become a “problem” in many cities, and dog owners abandoned at will, lost pets, and stray dog groups of disorderly breeding and other factors.

“If you don’t catch them, you won’t know, but if you catch them, you’ll be shocked!” Zhou Guoqing said the numbers that popped up after the centralized cleanup and sheltering of stray dogs were so alarming that the city of Wuxi had to invest more than 700,000 yuan to build a temporary dog detention center in the Economic Development Zone, which housed 612 unsheltered and stray dogs in just 12 days.

“This part of the cost can basically only be paid by the government.” According to Zhou Guoqing, there is only one official city dog detention center in Wuxi, and a new temporary dog detention center in the Economic Development Zone, another five dog detention center has been prepared. All infrastructure, management and technical staff costs, dog equipment and purchase of dog food and other basic expenses, are a significant number of “unexpected expenses”.

On the afternoon of November 23rd, the “Rule of Law Daily” reporter came to the Wuxi Economic and Opening District of the temporary dog stay, far from hearing the noisy dog barking. The “Rule of Law Daily” reporter came to the new kennel count, large and small, there are 11 kennels, almost every kennel is full of all kinds of dogs.

“We are different according to the size of the dogs, respectively shelter, for lactating bitches are additionally sheltered, each kennel has sewage pipes, every day to be cleaned by two people, 24-hour real-time monitoring.” The economic open area temporary dog stay in charge of Prince Dan to the “Rule of Law Daily” reporter.

“What if the stray dogs sent to us get sick or die?” In response to a question from the Rule of Law Daily reporter, Prince Dan introduced that although it is a temporary organization, the Institute is linked to a pet hospital, where professionals will diagnose and treat sick dogs and carry out epidemic prevention work. If there are any dead dogs, they will be transported to a designated location for epidemic-free treatment in accordance with the epidemic prevention requirements, and “as the weather gets colder, we will install warm curtains in the kennels to ensure that the ownerless and stray dogs here are safe for winter.

“We are planning to build a new standardized dog detention center in a different location, including standardized kennels, training yard, and cruelty-free disposal area.” Mao Aimin, deputy director of the Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center of the Wuxi Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said.

Source management is imminent.

System lags behind and needs to be improved

The “Rule of Law Daily” reporter interview found that, with the rapid increase in the number of urban pet dogs, dog ownership of all kinds of social problems are becoming increasingly serious, many deep-seated problems have not been fully exposed, and has not caused a high degree of concern to the legislation, law enforcement and epidemic prevention departments, canine management in accordance with the law, the source of governance, comprehensive management has become imminent.

“Legislation should be strict, this should be a general direction, stray dogs after all, there are potential dangers to social security and public safety.” Jiangsu rule of law construction research base chief expert, Nanjing University of Technology School of Law Professor Liu Xiaobing believes that the law and policy provisions to govern stray dogs should be in line with common sense and rationality, dog lovers should also be self-discipline awareness, to a certain degree of regulation of random abandonment behavior, and not “want to raise, do not want to raise can be abandoned at will”, and finally all the The problem is “dumped” to the government to pay the bill.

At present, the provincial level in Jiangsu Province is not legislation on dog management, but by the municipalities under the jurisdiction of the provinces based on the actual situation through local legislation to solve management problems.

For example, the “Wuxi City Dog Management Regulations” issued in 2007 stipulates that dogs are subject to compulsory immunization and registration, and no unit or individual is allowed to keep a dog without immunization and registration. It is stipulated that in the key management area of dog breeding limited to one dog per household, and the management area prohibits individuals from raising scented dogs and large dogs. It is also stipulated that the public security organs can directly trap and kill rabid dogs, and the 39 kinds of spirited dogs and large dogs that are prohibited to be kept by individuals can be confiscated according to law if they fail to rectify the situation.

Also in 2007 the implementation of the “Nanjing City Dog Management Regulations”, the key management areas of dog should comply with the provisions of a detailed regulation, such as personal dog per household limit of one, no scented dogs, large dogs; dogs excrete feces in the open air, the person carrying the dog should be immediately removed; carry the dog out of the house, the dog should be hung dog tags, leash, led by a person with full civil capacity, the length of the leash Not more than 1.5 meters, but also to comply with traffic laws and actively avoid pedestrians and vehicles.

But the “Rule of Law Daily” reporter found that the actual implementation of these legislative provisions in various parts of the effect is not ideal. Disorderly breeding, unlicensed breeding, a variety of nuisance uncivilized behavior is still no means and methods for effective management, illegal breeding of large dogs, spirited dogs in many places is still very common.

Strictly enforce the registration system.

Consensus Building for Civilized Dog Ownership

It is worth noting that as early as November 2004, the Jiangsu Provincial Government included dog breeding fees as one of the items to be abolished in relation to administrative licensing fees. However, the “Rule of Law Daily” reporter noticed that many provinces are still retaining the fee list of “dog management fee”, and many places still strictly implement the “annual inspection” system of dog management.

So, the dog breeders “leniency”, will not lead to the canine “loose tube”?

“The original intention of introducing the canine management fee is to reduce the burden on the public. However, with the increasing number of dog-owning families, there are more problems such as urban sanitation, rabies prevention and dog injuries, especially the problem of illegal breeding of large dogs, spirited dogs and other noble consumption, which should be more strictly managed. The community property should be given more auxiliary management responsibilities.” Liu Xiaobing said.

The “Rule of Law Daily” reporter in Nanjing lawyer group issued about the stray dog management issue after the discussion prompt, quickly caused many lawyers hot discussion. The problem that everyone focused on was the random urination and defecation of pet dogs in the community and the uncontrolled breeding of stray dogs.

“Stray dogs are very wild when they are out in groups, and can form wolf packs to hunt collectively, so they are very likely to attack the elderly and children.” Lawyer Xie Shiqiu believes that mature foreign experience should be learned, regular capture and placement to rescue stations.

“More people should be made aware through propaganda and education that pet dog ownership is not a spur of the moment or a trend to follow, but a responsibility.” Lawyer Yan Rui believes that legislation can be passed to clarify the responsibilities that abandoned pet dogs will face.

“Strict implementation of the dog registration system, annual audit, if lost or accident to be recorded, to increase the punishment for abandoned pets, increase the stray animal prevention, sterilization and sheltering efforts to encourage residents to adopt.” Lawyer Wang Xi said.

The “Rule of Law Daily” reporter learned that Wuxi City is actively promoting intelligent dog management system, organization and coordination of 132 authorized veterinary hospital into the community to carry out dog information registration, electronic dog license application and smart dog license issuance of “one-stop” service, a total of 29,163 newly registered dogs, audit issued a dog license 12791 The company has also authorized 132 pet clinics in Wuxi as immunization authorization points. At the same time, 132 pet clinics in Wuxi are authorized as immunization authorization points, and have immunized more than 35,000 rabid dogs this year.

“Stray dog management is one of the main elements of modernizing the city’s governance capacity, which should highlight humanistic care and scientific concepts.” Yang Dengfeng, professor of law at Nanjing Normal University, believes that killing stray dogs with infectious diseases or aggressive to people, law enforcement should do audio and video synchronization forensics, and limit the classification and disposal under strict conditions. (Reporter) (Ding Guofeng, Luo Shasha)