After one-child policy, China now mulls one-dog policy

China now plans to implement one-dog policy to limit population of canines.

Beijing: After the one-child policy to restrict population growth, China now plans to implement one-dog policy to limit the population of canines which have become the latest fad as pets for the Chinese middle class.

According to a pet law that is being finalised for one of China`s biggest and affluent cities, Shanghai, dog lovers will be allowed to raise only one dog at home.

The city`s draft legislation on dog management demands that each household can have only one dog, given Shanghai`s high population density and limited living space, state-run China Daily reported today.

If their dogs have puppies, dog owners should give them away to other eligible adopters or send them to government-approved adoption agencies by the time they are three-months old, the draft regulation states.

The draft legislation also offers an alternative to dog owners, that they can get their canines sterilised. Shanghai is not the only Chinese city to come up with the one-dog rule.

Earlier, cities including Guangzhou and Chengdu passed laws restricting one household to one dog only in designated control areas.

Shanghai is often regarded as an example to see the negative effects of the three-decade old one child policy followed by the country as the city is now weighed down with substantial population pensioners.

The city had to increase the retirement age to ease the pressure on pension fund.

Dogs have emerged as the best pets for millions of Chinese middle classes with many of them keeping more than one canine to keep the company as the one child policy left most of the middle and old age couples lonely with their children settled elsewhere for work or with their own families.

There was such enthusiasm for dogs in the recent years that one dog lover bought a Tibetan Mastiff, a rare hefty mountain dog, bred in Tibet for a record three million Yuan. Jing from Chinese town of Hebei also arranged a big red carpet welcome for the dog when it arrived from Tibet.

China, where dog flesh was once considered a delicacy, changed to become the most dog-friendly country. According to estimates Beijing alone has about 9 lakh registered pet dogs.

Recognising the fast spreading love for the dogs, Chinese government brought about elaborate rules permitting certain breads of dogs with specific height and length in the residential flats in the cities.

PTI

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