Dog injuries occur from time to time
4,694 people died of rabies across the country in 8 years
How to raise a dog in a civilized manner
Never drop the "chain"
Editor's note
In recent years, with the development of social economy and the aging trend, more and more families have begun to keep pets, and most of them are those who keep dogs and cats.
While pets bring happiness and comfort to owners and families, they also cause problems such as pets disturbing people, dogs hurting people, and affecting the environment.
In order to standardize pet management and respond to the masses’ expectations of conserving social civilization and improving the level of urban governance, dog-raising management laws and regulations have been introduced in many places, and urban dog-raising is gradually becoming institutionalized and ruled by law. However, due to the large dog-raising group, law enforcement is limited. , The governance effect is not satisfactory.
Raising pets in a civilized manner is not only a matter of "small family", but also a matter of "everyone" related to the people's sense of security and happiness; it not only reflects the "density" of the governance system, but also reflects the "precision" of governance capabilities.
Starting today, the "Law Jingwei" edition will launch a special report to explore the current problems in the process of pet raising including dog raising, and to discuss the specific governance directions that can be used, so stay tuned.
□ Reporter Chen Lei
The psychological shadow of being bitten by a dog when he was a child, Li Ping, in his 40s, still lingers.
Li Ping lives in a community in Wangjing Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, and he dared not go downstairs at night because he can always see people walking large dogs in the community. It’s too much to hide."
Li Ping's worries are not superfluous.
In recent years, dog injuries have occurred from time to time across the country, which has led to many infringement lawsuits.
Of particular concern is that from 2013 to 2020, a total of 4,694 people died of rabies across the country.
Experts interviewed by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily believe that owners have the right to enjoy the companionship, help, and psychological comfort of dogs and other pets, but they must also be raised in accordance with the law, and pets must be effectively controlled in public spaces to avoid harming others.
Experts suggest that scientific and technological means should be adopted to strengthen dog-raising management, such as implanting biochips in dogs, which store relevant information about the dog-raiser, and urge owners to raise dogs in accordance with the law.
While regulating dog keeping, we must also crack down on illegal dog keeping in accordance with the law.
Do not wear a muzzle or leash
Residents worry about dogs hurting people
Li Ping generally feels good about the community in which she lives, but "there are too many dogs in the community, and many people walk their dogs without leashing them, and there are people raising large dogs" which makes her very distressed.
The resident she lives in has a large dog upstairs.
One night not long ago, when she went downstairs to throw garbage and was about to wait for the elevator to return to the house, the two women came in from outside with a large dog nearly half a meter high and walked to the elevator door to stop. The dog did not wear a muzzle. Less than half a meter away from Li Ping, she quickly moved away.
Seeing the owner stop, the dog sat down on the ground.
The older lady kicked the dog in the ass and said, "Get up, get up, the ground is too dirty (not clean)."
But the dog did not get up, and the lady kicked again.
At this moment, the young lady bent down and patted the dog's head. The dog immediately stood up and slapped the young lady.
The elevator door opened, and the young lady turned to look at Li Ping. Li Ping said he was waiting for another elevator.
The other party smiled and said, "It doesn't bite." Li Ping waved his hand again and again, and sighed after they got into the elevator.
This dog was okay. Li Ping recalled that the other large dog he had met at the gate of the community was even more frightening.
That night, when she came back from the outside, the sidewalk at the gate of the community was dark.
Suddenly, a large dog more than half a meter high jumped in front of her from the green belt next to her, first wagging its tail and turning around her, then raised its head and jumped around.
Li Ping tremblingly shouted "Whose dog?" A middle-aged man walked up not far away, and then he said "What's wrong?"
She said that such a big dog running around scared her, and the other party said that the dog would not bite.
The next scene made Li Ping dumbfounded.
She told the dog breeder that a dog of this size should be leashed.
As a result, the dog breeder choked her back and said, "What does it matter to you whether you are tied or not?" Feeling that there is no need to entangle with such a person, Li Ping hurriedly walked a few steps into the community.
Tian Xiaole, who lives in Dongcheng District, Beijing, has the same distress.
Tian Xiaole’s community has a large area of woods and grass, but she rarely takes her two-year-old daughter to play on the grass, because there are always people walking dogs on the grass without leashing them, even large dogs.
Tian Xiaole remembers that one day during the National Holiday in 2021, the sun was warm. She took her daughter to basking on the grass. Suddenly a golden retriever ran out of the woods and rushed to her daughter and turned around. The daughter was scared to cry. .
A resident walked slowly with his hands on his back, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's playing with you." Tian Xiaole hurriedly took her daughter away.
"Why is there such a play? What if the child is bitten by a dog?" Thinking of that scene, Tian Xiaole still has lingering fears.
The reporter interviewed a number of residents randomly. They all found that more and more people are raising dogs around. Dog-raising behaviors such as walking dogs without leashing, and walking large dogs can be seen everywhere.
"It is very easy for dogs to hurt people." The residents interviewed unanimously said.
Dog injuries frequently occur
Harm to health and cause frequent disputes
The residents' concerns are not unreasonable.
According to public information, in 2021 alone, many dog injuries occurred in various places.
In August 2021, a 6-year-old child in Xin County, Shandong Province was thrown over by two dogs on his way to the toilet and was bitten, dragged and injured.
In September of the same year, an old man in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province was bitten to death by a large dog raised in a restaurant; an old man in Anyang City, Henan Province was bitten by two large dogs while walking in the community...
Many infringement lawsuits have also been triggered because of biting people by keeping dogs.
On December 1, 2021, China Judgments Network published a case judged by the People's Court of Chaoyang District, Beijing. Yin Peishun, a villager in Shibalidian Township, Chaoyang District, was bitten by a Tibetan mastiff raised by a villager Yin in the same village.
According to the facts confirmed in the verdict, on April 11, 2020, Yin Peishun walked to the land used by Yin to check the growth of radishes in the ground. The Tibetan mastiff raised by Yin rushed over from behind and threw it down. Yin Peishun’s hands, legs, etc. The Tibetan Mastiff was bitten and was found by neighbors and called an ambulance to the hospital.
According to the doctor's diagnosis, Yin Peishun had "comminuted fracture of the fourth metacarpal bone of the left hand, fracture of the left ulnar styloid process...double wrist, hands, and double calf dog bites (level Ⅲ exposure)".
In April and May 2020, he was discharged after undergoing two operations from the hospital.
Soon, Yin Peishun was hospitalized twice for treatment.
Since then, Yin Peishun and the owner of the Tibetan Mastiff filed a lawsuit in the court due to differences in treatment costs.
The court found that the Tibetan mastiff raised by Yin was a fierce dog, and he did not apply for a registration card and did not properly take care of it, causing the Tibetan mastiff to fall and bit Yin Peishun. Yin shall bear full compensation for the damage caused to Yin Peishun.
In the end, the court made a first-instance judgment: Yin compensates Yin Peishun for various expenses totaling more than 50,000 yuan.
Such cases are not rare.
The reporter logged on to the China Judgment Documents website to search for cases accepted by the grassroots courts using "breeding animals and dogs" as keywords and found that all provinces across the country have injured people caused by raising dogs.
It is worth noting that dogs can easily cause rabies when they hurt people.
The reporter calculated according to the national statutory infectious disease report morbidity and death statistics table issued by relevant state departments, from 2013 to 2020, a total of 4,694 people died of rabies across the country.
In this regard, Meng Qiang, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology Law School and deputy secretary-general of the China Civil Law Research Association, analyzed that with the development of society and the improvement of living standards, people’s needs for companionship of animals have increased, and the pets they keep, including dogs, have also increased. More and more.
Under this circumstance, if the animal breeder does not strictly abide by the management regulations, does not comply with the regulations on tying a dog with a dog chain and wearing a muzzle, it is easy to cause animal injuries.
Public data shows that in 2005, the number of registered dogs in Beijing was 458,000, and in 2013 it rose to more than 1 million.
According to relevant authorities in Shanghai in 2019, there were about 1 million dogs in Shanghai at that time.
In Meng Qiang's view, in recent years, dog injuries have occurred frequently in my country, mainly because many canine owners freely stock, walk their dogs without leashes, do not wear muzzles, or raise dangerous large dogs or fierce dogs. , Dogs are not registered, and dogs are not vaccinated.
The root cause behind this is that these animal breeders have weak legal awareness, lack of awareness of the rules, failure to abide by the rules, and disrespect for the rights of others; the relevant departments are not strict in law enforcement, and the law enforcement is not strong enough; the cost of rights protection is high, and it is difficult to obtain evidence. If there is no camera for evidence collection or other It is difficult to fix the evidence and prove the facts of infringement, and sometimes it is difficult to obtain the identity information of the infringer.
Implantation of electronic identity
Use technology to strengthen management
In order to regulate dog-raising behavior, various localities have formulated dog-raising management laws or regulations.
The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress passed the "Regulations on the Management of Dog Raising in Beijing" in September 2003; the "Regulations on the Administration of Dog Raising in Guangzhou" came into effect on July 1, 2009; the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress passed the "Shanghai Municipal Dog Management Regulations...
Zhi Zhenfeng, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, discovered that although local laws and regulations on dog raising are formulated in various places, illegal dog raising behaviors are widespread in practice, so that "the law is hard to blame."
One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that the dog breeding management law enforcement agencies are not unified or there is no specialized agency responsible for dog breeding management, which makes it difficult for some law enforcement agencies to implement specialized law enforcement personnel and fund guarantees.
In addition, some law enforcement agencies have weak willingness to enforce the law and lack of motivation.
“Based on the current situation where dog-raising problems frequently occur and become a frequent source of conflicts in grassroots governance, it is recommended to introduce unified administrative regulations, unifying law enforcement agencies and law enforcement management mechanisms.” Zhi Zhenfeng said that it can conform to the direction of administrative reform at the national level and adhere to the first category of matters. In principle, one department is responsible for overall planning, and one department is responsible for one thing in principle. Through legislation, a special dog-raising law enforcement agency is responsible for dog registration, immunization, and law enforcement inspections.
Meng Qiang believes that there are densely populated cities and limited public space, so pet dogs must be raised in accordance with the law.
Localities should promptly revise dog-raising management laws or regulations, and make more detailed regulations, especially to strengthen the responsibilities of dog-raising behavior authorities, establish effective supervision and law enforcement mechanisms, and change the current situation of "heavy fees and neglect supervision".
Zhi Zhenfeng also suggested that we should give full play to the strength of the grassroots community and authorize neighborhood committees, property committees and property companies to assist law enforcement agencies in managing dog-raising affairs.
According to Chen Youhong, director of the Community Governance and Policy Research Center of the Public Policy Research Institute of Renmin University of China, the social problems caused by dogs are actually human problems. Act in the scope permitted by law and social behavior standards, and raise dogs in a civilized manner in accordance with the law.
Only in this way can we achieve a win-win situation for humans and animals and realize the goal of a civilized, ecological and harmonious society.
"In the long run, my country should establish a special team and mechanism to manage dog breeding with professional strength and based on legal rules." Chen Youhong suggested.
The reporter noticed that some local dog-raising management laws or regulations have begun to require the implantation of electronic identification marks for dogs.
As required by the "Regulations on the Administration of Dog Raising in Guangzhou", the dog administration department shall implant electronic identity marks for dogs when issuing the "Registration Certificate for Dog Raising" and dog licenses; Dogs implement a management system for smart dog tags and electronic identification; the "Shenzhen Regulations on Dog Raising Management" stipulates that all pet dogs must be implanted with electronic tags.
Zhi Zhenfeng believes that it is necessary to adopt scientific and technological means to strengthen the standardized management of dog breeding, such as implanting electronic signs on dogs and implementing traceable management. Once a dog hurts people, relevant information can be tracked by scanning the electronic signs and the dog can be found quickly. People can urge dog owners to raise dogs in accordance with the law.
"The owner has the right to enjoy the companionship, help, psychological comfort and other benefits brought by pets, but enjoying the rights also means assuming obligations. Pet owners must abide by the rules and respect the rights of others, especially the personal safety of others, etc. The right to raise allowed pets in a prescribed manner, and effectively control and protect pets in public spaces.” Meng Qiang said.
(In the text, Li Ping Tian Xiaole is a pseudonym)