BEIJING (Reuters) - Admitting the city has gone to the dogs, Beijing has made it easier for people to keep the increasingly popular animals as pets.
China's capital has loosened rules on dog ownership, slashing registration fees by up to 80 percent and transferring supervision from police to neighborhood committees, the Xinhua news agency said in a report seen on Saturday.
"Cheaper dog registration will encourage more residents to keep their pets legally instead of ignoring the regulation," Li Xiaojuan, an official at Beijing's local legislature, was quoted as saying.
"The government now has shown more respect for social customs and individual interests."
Dog ownership, banned under the rule of the late Mao Zedong as a bourgeois practice, was legalized only a few years ago as higher living standards allowed many people to afford pets.
New rules passed by the Beijing Municipal People's Congress on Friday lowered dog registration fees to 1,000 yuan ($120) from 5,000 yuan for the first year and to 500 yuan from 2,000 yuan for following years, Xinhua said.
http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/352844|oddlyenough|09-08-2003::10:28|reuters.html
China's capital has loosened rules on dog ownership, slashing registration fees by up to 80 percent and transferring supervision from police to neighborhood committees, the Xinhua news agency said in a report seen on Saturday.
"Cheaper dog registration will encourage more residents to keep their pets legally instead of ignoring the regulation," Li Xiaojuan, an official at Beijing's local legislature, was quoted as saying.
"The government now has shown more respect for social customs and individual interests."
Dog ownership, banned under the rule of the late Mao Zedong as a bourgeois practice, was legalized only a few years ago as higher living standards allowed many people to afford pets.
New rules passed by the Beijing Municipal People's Congress on Friday lowered dog registration fees to 1,000 yuan ($120) from 5,000 yuan for the first year and to 500 yuan from 2,000 yuan for following years, Xinhua said.
http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/352844|oddlyenough|09-08-2003::10:28|reuters.html