Dog walkers in the city, pictures and texts have nothing to do with pictures. Visual China
Recently, a vicious dog injured and died in Zhaogang Village, Nanyang, Henan Province, which aroused strong concern from the outside world.
On April 21, 2024, a 3-year-old boy was playing on the side of the road near Zhaogang Village, Xinye County, Nanyang, when he was suddenly attacked by a dog and seriously bitten. Eighteen days after the incident, the boy experienced rabies symptoms such as fever, phobia, mania, and dysphagia.
According to media reports, the dog owner has not been found for many days after the incident, so it has been identified as an ownerless dog or a stray dog by the outside world. In this case, how should liability be defined? Why is stray dog management a dead knot in public management?
"Now when I go to apply for a dog license, I need to implant a chip." Du Fan, president of the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association, explained that implanting a chip that can be tracked when a pet is born is a more effective management method, but in the implementation process, it faces many practical problems. He said that the management of pets, in the final analysis, is actually the management of people, and the test behind it is the patience and level of urban fine management.
The dog owner has not been found
The boy who was killed lived in Zhaogang Village, Shanggang Township, Xinye County, Nanyang City, Henan Province. On the afternoon of April 21, the boy and his grandmother were playing on the side of the road near Zhaogang Village. According to family members, it is equivalent to a convenient square, where some people are dancing in the square and other children are playing.
The dog involved first slowly approached the child, and did not show a particularly big threat, and when the distance was close, it suddenly pounced on the child and began to bite the boy. After the incident, the police confirmed through surveillance that the dog involved was just a husky, it moved quickly, and by the time the adults rushed to the rescue, the boy had been bitten.
The boy suffered multiple serious injuries to his face, neck and legs, and was quickly taken to the hospital for treatment, where his condition improved for a time, but then deteriorated again and he died 18 days later.
On the day of the incident, the boy's family reported to the local police station, but the owner of the dog could not be found. "Now I can't ask anyone, and no one dares to admit that something so big has happened, and no one can say it." The boy's mother told the media that the conclusion given by the police station was that it was a husky, but judging from the body shape, the dog was relatively thin, and they analyzed that it may have been caused by hunger and hunger after a long period of unattended care.
"If you can't find the owner of the dog, it's more troublesome." Chang Sha, a lawyer at Beijing Jingjing Law Firm, has represented her in such disputes. She analyzed that the civil law defines pets as articles, and dog owners have the obligation and responsibility to properly keep and manage them. "Of course, it also involves whether there is a leash, whether the door is not closed and you run out, whether someone takes the initiative to provoke the problem, and the responsibility is also divided into different degrees."
She explained that the so-called responsibility of dog owners mainly refers to compensation, and generally does not involve criminal liability. "Criminal liability is not involved unless it is intentional and endangers public safety." She said that if the dog owner cannot be found, then the community property, neighborhood committee, street office and other relevant departments need to bear a certain amount of management responsibility, "whether there are regular inspections and go to the street to clean up."
Stray dogs are mostly abandoned by humans
According to the 2021 White Paper on China's Pet Industry, the number of pet dogs in China's urban households has reached 54.29 million. But on the other hand, as the number of pets continues to increase, the number of abandoned dogs and cats is also increasing year by year. The white paper revealed that the number of stray dogs is as high as 40 million.
In 2019, the National Health Commission pointed out at the China Forum on Animal Injury Treatment that 40 million people in China are bitten by dogs and cats every year. The World Health Organization has pointed out that studies have shown that 76%-94% of animal bite injuries are caused by dogs.
"There are more and more stray dogs now." Daniel Zhang works for the Integrated Law Enforcement Bureau in a northern city that has taken over stray dog capture since 2020. Daniel Zhang introduced that in 2023 alone, more than 1,100 reports from the public will be received, and more than 300 stray dogs will be captured. Most of these reports are dogs barking and disturbing people, and the public has asked for them to be dealt with.
However, Daniel Zhang especially emphasized that they are not "hitting dogs", and try not to hurt dogs during the capture process. According to the work process, stray dogs will be sent to the detention center managed by the public security department for adoption after the detention center inspects the dogs, and hands them over to the chengguan team members with a receipt form, which will clearly indicate the number and status of the dogs. However, Daniel Zhang stressed that the unit that catches dogs and the unit that adopts dogs are not the same department.
In Daniel Zhang's impression, in recent years, the number of stray dogs has increased day by day. "The main reason is that the living conditions are better now, there are more dogs, and there are more abandoned dogs." He said that with the improvement of living conditions, many young people regard pets as a kind of life interest, and at the same time, some elderly people also need to be accompanied, and the demand for pets will increase.
After receiving reports from the public, they usually arrive at the designated area to catch dogs, and the dogs that need to be caught are usually unleashed or unattended. However, it is impossible to accurately identify whether the dog is a stray dog or a master dog that ran out just by its appearance. Therefore, there are occasional phone calls from the masses to find the lost dog. In this case, they will advise the other party to look for it at the detention center, "but it can basically be judged that this person does not have a dog license."
"Direct abandonment is the most spurned." Du Fan said that the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association is a public welfare company, mainly to help some pets that have been hit by cars or are sick. According to his analysis, there are many reasons why pets are abandoned, including but not limited to high breeding costs, high medical expenses, and even trouble, etc., "Some people feel that they are very cute when they are young, and they are not cute when they grow up, so they don't raise them."
He said that even if there are special circumstances in the family that are not suitable for pets, the proper way to deal with them is to hand them over to relatives and friends to raise, or send them to the aid station, rather than abandoning them directly. "Throwing it directly on the street is very unfair to pets and harmful to the public."
The problem of getting a dog license
Daniel Zhang introduced that some precious dog breeds attach great importance to the purity of blood, for this reason, when the dog is born, a chip will be implanted in the body to record the dog's birth date, dog owner, breed and other information in detail. "It's like a dog's ID card, even if the owner is changed and the dog is lost, the information is still there."
He believes that this method has no physical harm, has been implemented at the technical level, and the cost is not high, and it is a good way to manage dogs that is worth promoting.
"The solution is good, but in the process of implementation, there are still many practical problems." Du Fan said that cats and dogs have a strong reproductive ability, and the breeding process is relatively simple, so it is impossible to control this process at the source. ”
He explained that in fact, in many places in the public security management regulations, there are provisions on the need to apply for a dog license to raise dogs, and in the process of handling a dog license, the relevant departments will force the dog to "register", that is, to implant a subcutaneous chip on the neck, after being implanted with a chip, if there is an accident, or will be abandoned in the future, it can be traced back to the identity of the dog owner. "Basically, dogs that have obtained a dog license will be implanted with a microchip, in fact, the regulations are very detailed."
The difficulty is that many people are reluctant to apply for a dog license. "Many people will think, I spent money to get a permit, but I can't enjoy any rights, it's almost the same as not getting a permit, so why do I need to do it?" He said that when applying for a license, he will be told which dogs can be raised, which dogs can not be raised, which dogs can be walked in public, and the time, place, and scope of dog walking, etc., the regulations are very detailed, but they are not well enforced.
If strictly enforced, dogs that do not have a dog license will be punished. However, there are special circumstances for groups that do not have a certificate. "Some elderly people don't have much money, so do they give it or not? Now is to encourage adoption instead of purchasing, adoption, is it possible to apply for a certificate without money, or give a little less? "In practice, however, there is no distinction between these special cases.
"Behind the management of dogs, it is actually people who are managed." He said that it is more reasonable to treat licensed dogs and unlicensed dogs differently, but not to manage them in a sporty way, but to leave enough time and buffers to publicize and let dog owners actively apply for documents. Moreover, in this process, it is necessary to carry out "preferential" treatment for special situations such as lonely and widowed elderly. After both measures are in place, the relevant authorities can take enforcement measures if the dog license has not been obtained.
Southern Weekly reporter Li Zailei
Editor-in-charge: Tan Chang