2011-02-24 12:28:00
By Chris Hogg BBC News, Shanghai
Dog, in booties, Beijing Jan 2011 Once banned by for being a 'bourgeois
decadence', keeping a pet dog is now seen as trendy
The Chinese city of Shanghai has announced a new rule modelled on the country's
one-child policy.
From May a one-dog policy will be introduced, and more than 600,000 unlicensed
dogs will be declared illegal.
The new regulation has been the subject of long and heated debate among the
city's lawmakers.
Last year more than 140,000 people told police they had been bitten by an
unlicensed dog.
There are four times as many dogs without the proper paperwork in Shanghai as
there are animals with a permit.
Pooch permits
The new rule means owners whose dogs are not registered with the authorities
will have to give them away.
Those who already have two licensed dogs will be able to keep them, but only
new applications from households without hounds will be accepted.
Of course, this being China, people will no doubt find a way to get around the
rules.
When restrictions on the numbers of homes families could own here were
introduced to try to slow the rise in house prices, there were reports of
couples getting divorced but still living together just so they could buy more
properties.
The police say they are expecting they will have to adopt many of the dogs once
they are declared outlaws.
They are also banning the keeping of what they call "attack dogs".
British bulldogs are among those that will not be welcome here under the new
rules.