Dog owners living in downtown Jiangmen, Guandong Province have been told they will have to move their pets out of the city or face having them seized or put down as part of a newly launched local government campaign.

The rule, announced July 28, was drawn up by five city government bodies, including the public security bureau, agricultural bureau and urban management bureau.

The rule bans dogs from downtown Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts, with exceptions for those kept for special purposes.

Dog owners without a permit in the restricted area must decide what to do with their pets by August 10. After that, government workers will contact those who refuse to comply with the rule in a two-week campaign.

Starting August 26, any dogs seen in the restricted area will either be seized or killed.

The move aims to "prevent and control rabies, maintain public order and sanitation, and create a sound environment for the people," the Jiangmen Daily reported, citing a government announcement.

Gong Rongmao, a veterinarian from the local agricultural bureau, told the Nanfang Daily that all seized dogs will be sent to a shelter in the suburbs.

"After that, dogs found with diseases will be euthanized in a humanitarian manner. We will sign agreements with owners before putting down their dogs," Li Wantong, technology director at an animal disease control center under the city's agricultural bureau, told the Global Times.

"We will try to find solutions for healthy ones, as we do not have the capacity to keep a large number of them," Li said.

He added he had received eight to 10 dogs every day since the rule was announced, along with 30 to 50 enquiries daily.

Li estimated that the new rule will likely affect more than 30,000 dogs in the city of 4 million people.

This is not the first anti-dog campaign to be launched in Jiangmen. Back in August 2005, the city also encouraged people living in downtown areas to hand in their dogs, but received no response.

Jiangmen Daily said that a total of 42 people died from rabies in the last three years.

"I am opposed to keeping dogs in the city. They are truly annoying," a 31-year-old driver surnamed Lin told the Global Times, noting that many dog owners love their dogs but care little about others.

"In my community, there are too many dogs. Their excrement is everywhere in the courtyard and parks, and their barking always disrupts my sleep," Lin said.
However, dog owners have taken issue with the new rules.

"Banning all pet dogs, taking them away and killing them is a bit too much," a 24-year-old Pengjiang district resident who owns a 2-year-old poodle, told the Global Times on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.

"This is so unfair and so inhumane. Those dogs should not be the scapegoats of certain irresponsible pet owners," she said. "I don't know what to do, and nobody has told me where to go to get a permit."

The new rule said that the government will only license dogs kept by companies for security purposes – provided that the companies can prove they have property worth at least 5 million yuan ($776,640).

The new policy has "negatively affected our business," a pet shop clerk in Pengjiang district told the Global Times on condition of anonymity. "We have stopped selling dogs for quite a while now."

The Jiangmen government said the new rule was based on the Law of Punishment for Public Security and Administration and the Law on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

But Li Hua, managing director of Animal Guardians, a Hong Kong-based non-profit organization, questioned its legitimacy.

"Those laws do not prevent individuals from raising dogs," Li said. "Confining dogs in large numbers is dangerous because animals in distress are more prone to infectious diseases. And how can the city officials ensure the dogs will be captured without violence?"

Regarding the government's stated aim of protecting citizens from rabies, the Southern Weekend commented that China lacks a long-term plan and timetable for rabies prevention, and some local authorities always resort to killing dogs after people die from the disease.

The newspaper said that less than 20 percent of dogs in China receive rabies vaccines.

Analysts suggested that high costs have stopped many dog owners from obtaining licenses and vaccinations for their dogs.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, rabies was the third deadliest infectious disease in 2010, behind AIDS and tuberculosis.

Huang Shaojie contributed to this story