QINGHUANGDAO CITY, Hebei, China – Local authorities say they recently launched a dog cull in reaction to dog-bite cases and to a pair of human deaths from rabies. A Hong Kong-based charity, the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), suspects other motives.

AAF representative Irene Feng said the timing, starting on September 10 before National Day on October 1, shows that the authorities worried more about the city’s short-term image than about animal welfare or its citizens’ feelings.

On August 16, vice-mayor Ma Yufeng told a press conference that tourism would become an economic pillar and that the city aspired to develop into a big coastal resort with high-end golf and yachting facilities.

But “if the authorities really want to improve the city’s image and make it a favored tourist destination, they should adopt long-term de-sexing and vaccination measures to control the stray-dog population,” Feng said.

Local dog-raising regulations ban breeds classed as “dangerous” and dogs taller than 35cm. They also forbid dogs smaller than 35cm from appearing in public during daytime hours (6 a.m. to 9 p.m.).

Authorities ordered the owners of dogs contravening the rules to “deal with” the pets themselves or to face visits from police kill-squads. Then dog-owners would need to pay a fee of about RMB200 (US$30) for each slaughtered pet.

AAF founder Jill Robinson calls such rules archaic, cruel and unfair. “Telling families they must kill their pets is barbaric. At least, there should be a ‘grandfather clause’ so people with dogs banned by the regulations can keep them until the animals die.”

David Neale, the charity’s welfare director, deems the regulations fundamentally flawed: “Punishing dogs simply for their size or breed is wrong. The emphasis must be on the owners and the development of responsible dog-ownership schemes to encourage appropriate dog-training and socialization. Often aggressive behavior in dogs is due to irresponsible owners, not a dog’s breed or size.”

The Chinese authorities often react to human-rabies outbreaks by ordering dog culls in particular areas. Yet each year China still suffers significant numbers of human-rabies cases.

Needless deaths due to government policies, even if the victims are animals, form a prime example of the injustices all too prevalent in China. As the Communist Party makes a fuss for the 60th anniversary (on October 1) of its own rule, too many policies, like senseless dog culls, fall a long march short of enlightenment.

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