Owners ought to be deterred from abandoning dogs

ON MAY 7, a dog attacked eight persons one after another in Chaoyang district of Beijing. Some of the victims, such as a 5-year-old boy who suffered facial injuries, had quite bad wounds. Gmw.cn comments:

The attacks by the dog caused panic among parents who brought sticks with them when sending children to school, until the local police caught the dog two days later.

Some blame stray dogs for attacking people, but it is those who abandon their pets that should be blamed. Data show that from 2007 to October 2015, for example, the police in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, impounded over 30,000 stray dogs, most of which had been abandoned by their owners.

Such a large number of stray dogs pose huge risks to human health and security. In 2017 alone, more than 500 persons nationwide died of rabies, the majority of which were bitten by stray dogs.

The Tort Liability Law, which came into effect in 2010, clearly states that the former owners should be held answerable for any harm done by their abandoned pets. However, in reality, owners that discard their pets always refuse to recognize the latter when they cause damage, and it is difficult to prove their ownership. As a result, in most of the cases of stray dogs attacking people, the owners were not held accountable.

In order to put an end to this, it is necessary to regulate the behaviors of dog owners first. Those who raise pets must register them with the local police.

Various cities have made it clear that it is illegal to discard pets, but the penalties for such deeds are rather light, and there is no specific department to enforce the local regulations. It is necessary to raise the penalties and more strictly implement the regulations so that no one dares to abandon their pets.