Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

ALL pet dogs should be registered in the city’s dog management system and microchipped before Jan. 24, the municipal urban management authority said yesterday.

Meanwhile, dog owners should remove the dogs that are not qualified to be registered and that are banned from being raised in the city before Jan. 24.

Starting Jan. 25, the authority will launch campaigns to check for dog-raising irregularities across the city, especially in places such as industrial parks, factories and construction sites.

Industrial parks, factories and construction sites will be fined 5,000 yuan (US$772) if found keeping prohibited dog breeds. The authority will also seize the dogs.

A fine of 500 yuan for each dog will be issued to dog owners who do not have a license for raising pet dogs. They could face another fine of 2,000 yuan for each dog and have their pets confiscated if found failing to register their dogs within the required time after the first punishment.

In addition, the authority will issue a fine of 500 yuan for irregularities including walking dogs without using a leash and not cleaning up poop as required.

Registration and microchipping services are available on the WeChat miniprogram Shenzhen Dog-raising Service (“深圳市养犬服务”) or through the WeChat account “mlszgzh.”

Dog owners can call 181-2398-8030 to seek help on dealing with their prohibited dog breeds.

Shenzhen announced a plan to microchip all dogs on top of registration in 2019 and officially began implanting free microchips in all registered dogs on “Love Your Pet Dog Day” on May 29 last year.

The move aims to help find lost or stolen dogs, stop citizens from dumping dogs and determine responsibility when disputes over dogs happen.

Shenzhen officially implemented pet dog-raising regulations in November last year, which stipulates that dog owners in the city will be punished if found raising unchipped dogs.

Other cities in China have also promoted the use of microchips for dog identification, such as Hangzhou, Ningbo and Chongqing.

Shenzhen owned around 200,000 dogs and cats in 2019, according to official data. The total number of dogs and cats nationwide grew 8.4 percent year over year to nearly 1 billion in 2019, an industry white paper showed.