BBC News Top Stories-World China toddler mauling prompts crackdown on dogs
October 23, 2023 3 min 604 words
这则报道揭示了中国对流浪、未注册和“超大”犬只进行镇压的举措，其中一起可怕的犬袭事件成为导火索。然而，该镇压行动引发广泛争议，因为报道称，无主犬只有时会被围捕和安乐死。最令人震惊的是，一些犬只被残忍处置，甚至在没有主人的情况下。这个行动的动机是值得关注的，但问题在于其执行方式，尤其是对无辜宠物的残酷对待。中国的一些名人也纷纷参与社交媒体讨论，认为在初次袭击事件之后，全国范围内的这一镇压举措并不合理，尽管袭击事件本身已经够可怕了。 中国国内流浪犬数量众多，问题已久，但需要一种更加人道的方式来处理。这个事件应该成为中国制定更严格的动物保护法律的契机，以保护宠物和野生动物免受虐待。此外，对宠物饲养的规定在中国各地不一致，执行也时有松懈。因此，应该加强监管和立法，以确保宠物的福祉和社会安全。 总之，这个报道突显了中国当前对待动物权益和管理流浪犬问题的复杂挑战，需要更全面、人道和一致的解决方案。
Officials in China have launched a crackdown on stray, unregistered, and "oversized" dogs.
But the move has been widely criticised after reports that dogs without owners are being rounded up and sometimes euthanised.
It comes after a vicious attack on a two-year-old girl by a Rottweiler last week that shocked the country.
The toddler suffered a ruptured kidney, fractured ribs and lacerations across her body. She is reportedly stable.
Footage of the incident shows the child's mother initially putting herself in-between her baby and the dog, but the Rottweiler moves around the woman and snatches the child.
The mother desperately attempts to save her daughter. A cleaner and another worker rush to the scene to aid in the rescue, armed with a mop and another large stick.
Eventually the Rottweiler is driven away.
Its owner has been arrested.
The crackdown prompted by the mauling has however, been questioned on social media and by pet owners after several shocking stories came to light.
In one case, security guards and a landlord entered an office without the permission of the tenant and killed both of their dogs.
In Liaoning Province, a university said it fired a security guard who brutally killed a dog on campus in recent days.
In another case - which has drawn considerable attention online - a small, stray dog on a university campus in Chongqing was filmed being grabbed in a net by a dog catcher, prior to being killed. The "smiling" appearance of the dog has prompted a social media hashtag using the name it was given #XiaoHuang. University officials said the dog had chased a student.
Chinese celebrities have also joined the social media discussion, saying the crackdown across the country was not warranted by the initial attack, terrible though it was.
According to the 2021 China Pet Industry White Paper, there are some 40 million stray dogs in the country and this has been seen as problem for some time.
However, the Rottweiler that attacked the child in Chongzhou, Sichuan Province, was not a stray. It was unleashed and approached the mother who was walking her child to preschool inside their housing compound.
The child's family has started a campaign to raise funds from the public to pay for her treatment.
Statements issued from officials in Shandong, Jiangxi and Hubei Provinces have said that captured stray dogs would be put down if an owner cannot be found for them.
Yet the city of Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia, made its own announcement saying that stray dogs would be rounded up but not killed, to calm a growing outcry against what people have been calling unwarranted cruelty against animals.
In some provinces, local governments are handing out free leashes as a way of reaching the source of the problem.
A Beijing volunteer dog rescue group posted an urgent notice to its supporters saying that dogs found without documentation in the capital would be impounded. It also told people to be mindful of designated hours for dog walking, and advised owners of medium or large dogs - who are able - to relocate them to designated boarding facilities.
The announcement also advised owners to maintain "a cooperative attitude" and not to "engage in disputes with law enforcement".
Regulations governing pet ownership vary from one local government area to another in China and sometimes their enforcement can be lax.
The country also lacks strong animal cruelty laws which might offer protection for pets.