Several Chinese cities started trapping stray dogs and advertising “civilised” pet ownership last week, after a two-year-old had to be hospitalised following a savage mauling by an off-leash Rottweiler.
The drive has sparked online rumours of an alleged round of dog culling, with most social media users condemning the move.
The attack on the child was captured in security camera footage that went viral early last week.
The clip shows the girl being set upon by the large black Rottweiler as she steps out into a residential compound with her mother. The woman tries to cover the child in a desperate attempt to save her, but also gets dragged around, as a street cleaner tries to drive the dog away with a broom.
A white Labrador, seen roaming with the Rottweiler earlier, was also present during the attack.
Another person with a broom soon appears on the scene and is able to drive the dogs away, as the mother sits crying on the ground, clutching her child in her arms.
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Police authorities in Chongzhou, a city in southwest China’s Sichuan province, said in a statement on Monday (Oct 23) that the child, who was sent to hospital immediately, had been bitten multiple times. She also suffered a tear in her right kidney and a fractured rib.
Officers on Tuesday captured the dogs and detained the owner of the Rottweiler, a local who neighbours said was named Tang.
Local media reported that the two dogs were kept in a yard belonging to Tang, and sneaked out after someone left the front gate open on Sunday. Tang looked for the dogs on the streets that night but failed to find them.
Following the attack, cities in Shandong, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces issued statements saying they were capturing stray dogs and would put them down if they were not adopted.
Some users of Chinese microblogging site Weibo posted pictures claiming security personnel in their residential compounds had started killing strays and dumping their bodies in the trash. Their posts sparked an online outcry, with many calling for more humane measures, including adoption and neutering.
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Urban management and law enforcement workers in Guizhou, Sichuan and Anhui provinces also handed out free leashes this week to local residents, as well as brochures on registering and vaccinating their pets.
The brutal attack and its aftermath have divided the Chinese internet. In a poll conducted by Hubei-based Jiupai News, 33 per cent said dog-culling should continue across the country, while 47 per cent said in attacks like this the fault lay with the owner, not the dog.
Du Yufeng, founder of the Guangyuan Boai Animal Protection Centre in Sichuan, said dog culling is not the right action to take and could send a wrong message to young children.
“A one-size-fits-all measure can only create more conflict,” she said.
A Shanghai resident said some neighbours had been helping stray dogs in their residential compound get adopted, for fear they might be seized by authorities.
“There are already some complaints about stray dogs barking too loudly at night, and I saw compound security chase after a dog last night,” she said.
China has no animal cruelty law that can offer protection for pets. While each city has regulations regarding registering and raising pets, these are loosely enforced, causing conflict between dog owners and other residents.
Over the years, authorities have put in place many strict policies regarding dog ownership to keep the public peace.
In 2019, Tongzhou district in Beijing announced residents were not allowed to keep dogs over 35 centimetres (about 14 inches) tall, which would include popular breeds such as the Golden Retriever. Owners had to remove the dogs elsewhere within three days, or the animals would be seized, residents were warned.
This article was first published on SCMP.