How to solve the continuous disputes over community dog ownership?
2025-01-20
The recently released "2025 China Pet Industry White Paper (Consumption Report)" shows that in 2024, the number of pets (dogs, cats) in China will be 124.11 million, an increase of 2.1% compared to 2023. Among them, there are 52.58 million pet dogs and 71.53 million pet cats. The size of the urban (dog, cat) consumer market will exceed 300 billion yuan in 2024. Pets have become an important part of people's lives. With the rapid development of pet numbers and pet economy, conflicts and disputes caused by pets continue to be high: from pet injuries to pet poisoning, from pet adoption traps to arbitrary abandonment of pets, from pet food safety to the risk of raising exotic pets, it has sparked widespread discussions in society. Why do disputes involving pets occur? How to deal with the chaos involving pets? How to regulate the pet market? Starting from today, the Rule of Law Jingwei Edition will launch a column titled "Protecting the Rule of Law with Love" and a series of reports. Please stay tuned. Due to the issue of raising dogs, residents in our community have reported it to the police multiple times On the noon of January 15th, standing next to the green space of a high-end community in Chaoyang District, Beijing, Ms. Zhao, a resident of the community, helplessly said that there were hundreds of dogs in the community and various disputes occurred from time to time. A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily recently visited multiple residential areas in Beijing and found that as pets enter more and more households, uncivilized pet keeping behaviors such as illegally keeping large dogs, walking dogs without chains, and dogs defecating everywhere are troubling community residents and becoming a major factor causing community conflicts. It is worth noting that in order to regulate the behavior of dog owners, many places have formulated local regulations or rules for dog owners, which dog owners should abide by. The above-mentioned uncivilized pet raising behaviors are also often prohibited or restricted, but in practice, the phenomenon of illegal dog raising still exists widely. The interviewed experts suggest fully leveraging the power of grassroots communities, achieving self-management of dog ownership affairs through community autonomy, and consciously raising dogs in a civilized manner. The local regulations on dog ownership are the institutional guarantee for community governance of dog ownership issues and should be strictly implemented. For those who violate regulations by keeping dogs and refuse to correct them, the punishment that should be imposed and the confiscation that should be made will be based on the specific violation situation, so that those who abide by the rules can see the benefits of following the rules, and those who do not abide by the rules will also be punished. Residents who illegally keep large dogs have repeatedly encountered neighborhood disputes. Ms. Zhao's community was built in the early 21st century with over 2000 households and implemented closed management. Entering the residential area, there are large green spaces between the enclosed high-rise buildings. The green spaces are designed with slopes and planted with trees such as ginkgo and peach trees. There is also a small rockery at the top of the slope. The reporter saw that there were multiple white signs standing at different positions on the edge of the green space, some of which were related to dog ownership. Some of them read "Be a civilized dog owner, please clean up your dog feces voluntarily", while others read "It is important to give me your 'identity' (dog ID)". On that day, the temperature in Beijing was relatively low, with northwest winds blowing. Even with the sun, it felt very cold. It's too cold, not many residents go out to take their dogs for walks. When the weather is warm, dogs run around the green space, "Ms. Zhao said. There is also a large green area at the entrance of the community, which is also a place for residents to walk their dogs. Ms. Zhao and the reporter had just walked to the edge of the green space when they saw a resident wearing a black long down jacket holding a white dog with a body height exceeding 35 centimeters (Beijing regulations prohibit the breeding of strong dogs and adult dog breeds with a body height exceeding 35 centimeters). There were also two dogs nearby with a body height exceeding 35 centimeters. We have several large dogs in our community Standing in a leeward place, Ms. Zhao told reporters about a dog ownership dispute that occurred in their community a while ago. That day, when she left the residential area, she met a female resident with two small dogs that were not leashed and stood on the side waiting. At this moment, another male resident led a large dog (35 centimeters tall) out. The male resident saw two small dogs without a leash and casually said, 'Why isn't your dog chained?'. The other party replied, 'What's it to you? You're still walking a large dog.'. The two of them then argued. The argument escalated gradually, and the female resident took out her phone and dialed "110" to report the incident. The police quickly responded. After investigation, it was found that the male resident's large dog has a dog ownership certificate, but it was not obtained from the street where the community is located, but from a suburban township. Subsequently, the police brought the large dog to the police station and provided criticism and education to the dog owner, urging them to arrange for the large dog to be sent back to the suburbs for custody as soon as possible. Li Ping (pseudonym), who lives in an old residential area outside the North Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, is also very distressed about people keeping large dogs in the community. Li Ping recalled that one evening, when she returned from outside, the sidewalk at the entrance of the community was pitch black. Suddenly, a large dog over half a meter tall jumped up from the nearby green belt in front of her, first wagging its tail and circling around her, then jumping back and forth. Li Ping trembled and shouted, 'Whose dog is that?'. A middle-aged man walked not far away and asked, 'What's wrong?'? She told the dog owner that walking such a big dog should be done with a leash. As a result, the dog owner retorted to her and said, "Whether or not to tie it up is none of your business." Feeling that there was no need to entangle with such a person, Li Ping quickly walked a few steps into the community. Yan Xianghong, a researcher at the Ningbo Municipal Party School in Zhejiang Province, has also encountered large dogs in her residential area. She has a small dog at home, and one day she and her husband took it for a walk in the community. As they were walking, a large dog suddenly ran towards the small dog, wanting to play with it, but the small dog was very scared and kept hiding behind. Seeing this situation, Yan Xianghong picked up the small dog. The large dog not only did not leave, but also pounced on the small dog in her arms. Her husband was worried that the large dog would harm Yan Xianghong, so he quickly kicked the large dog. At this moment, the owner of a large dog, a man, walked over and said that his dog doesn't bite people, while questioning Yan Xianghong's husband how he could kick his dog and saying some unpleasant things. Upon hearing this, Yan Xianghong's husband became unhappy and started arguing with him. Upon seeing this, Yan Xianghong immediately reported to the police, as the other party had made a mistake in walking a large dog and had not yet tied the leash. As soon as the other party saw her report to the police, they immediately left with their dog. After the police called out, they found the dog owner based on the public video installed in the community and came to criticize and educate him. Next, the urban management staff responsible for local dog management made a decision to arrange the whereabouts of large dogs within a certain period of time, otherwise they would be confiscated directly. According to Yan Xianghong's observation, in her community, the most prominent conflict regarding dog ownership is that residents walk their dogs in underground garages. The local climate in Ningbo is that during the transition from winter to spring, the temperature is relatively low and it is easy to rain. It is not suitable to walk dogs outdoors in residential areas. Some dog owners find that underground garages are actually suitable, so they go to underground garages to walk their dogs. But there are many cement columns in the underground garage, which creates blind spots for drivers when driving; Furthermore, the underground garage is a relatively enclosed space, and even if the dog defecates and is cleaned up in a timely manner, the smell is difficult to dissipate, so residents have strong opinions. Yan Xianghong recalled that one day in the spring of 2024, a dog owner was walking his dog in an underground garage without a leash. At that time, a sedan was driving in at a speed of less than 30 kilometers per hour. The owner saw the dog running around and immediately stepped on the brakes and turned the steering wheel. The dog was fine, but the car collided with a nearby cement pillar. Afterwards, the owner spent over 80000 yuan repairing the car. At the time of the incident, the dog owner saw the serious consequences and even abandoned the dog and ran away on his own. The property personnel found the dog owner after reviewing the public video of the community. After mediation, the dog owner assumed the corresponding compensation responsibility. The property personnel posted this case to the owner group, warning dog owners not to walk their dogs in the underground garage. Owners commented one after another, believing that the dog is innocent and the problem lies with the dog owner. Yan Xianghong told reporters that in the past year, most dog owners have not followed the regulations to walk their dogs in underground garages, but there are always a few dog owners who go their own way. What gave Ms. Zhao a headache was that her neighbor's dog let it defecate on the terrace. The top floor residents of her unit have a terrace, and the kennel is located here. The dogs even defecate directly on the terrace, and the smell is particularly strong in summer. The neighbors were very angry and reported the top floor residents. After criticism and education, the top-level residents gave their dogs to friends. Tian Xiaole (pseudonym), who lives in Dongcheng District, Beijing, is troubled by the fact that the dog owners in the community do not leash their dogs. The community where Tian Xiaole lives has a large forest and grassland, but she rarely takes her 6-year-old daughter to play on the grassland because there are always people walking dogs on the grassland without a leash. Tian Xiaole remembers that on a sunny day during the National Day holiday in 2024, she was sunbathing on the grass with her daughter. At that moment, a group of dogs ran out of the forest, and one of them rushed towards her daughter, who was scared and cried. Several residents walked over slowly while chatting, smiling and saying, "It's nothing, it's just playing with you." Tian Xiaole quickly took her daughter away. Mr. Han, who lives in Jizhou District, Tianjin, is troubled by the barking of several dogs in his neighbor's house. He likes quietness, especially after working for a week and wanting to sleep in on weekends. However, his neighbor has three dogs and they bark for a while from time to time, especially in the hallway where the barking sounds make him feel particularly noisy. He had previously complained to the property management company about this matter, but the company stated that they could only coordinate and could not require the owner to handle the dog. The intensification of conflicts has led to frequent disputes over dog ownership, with some residents in certain communities resolving them through reporting to the police, while a few resort to extreme methods of poisoning and killing dogs. In May 2024, a poisoning incident occurred in a residential area of Fengtai District, Beijing. According to Li Yuehong (a pseudonym), a resident of the community, more than 20 dogs in the community, including her own dog Lele, were poisoned one after another, including Teddy, border collie, Chinese Garden Dog, etc., and rodenticide ingredients were detected in the dogs. In the autumn of 2023, Li Yuehong moved to the community with Lele and took her for a walk every day. On the day of the incident, after visiting her mother, she returned home and took Lele downstairs for a walk as usual, letting it move around the fitness square on its own. Not long after, Li Yuehong noticed that Lele suddenly fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing uncontrollably. After a while, she stopped breathing. She was grieving when she heard from her neighbors that many pets had recently died in the community, and the police were investigating the matter. Hearing this, Li Yuehong quickly reported to the police, and she also learned more information: someone put pig hooves, elbows, Rice-meat dumplings, ham intestines, etc. suspected of being mixed with poison in the place where pets often move. Soon, the test results for the dead dogs came out: fluoroacetic acid (a component of rat poison) was detected in the stomach contents of the dogs, suspecting intentional poisoning. My dog is only 3 years old. He ate something poisonous on the ground before and it was all over in one go Previously, in an interview with reporters, she mentioned the poisoning of dogs that occurred in the community and has been deeply saddened. Ms. Wang, a resident of a certain community in Daxing District, Beijing, told reporters that a few years ago, a friend's dog in her community was also poisoned. Her friend had a gentle and large dog, and when walking the dog, neighbors often gave him disdainful looks. Later, someone dropped ham sausages mixed with poison in a place where the dog often appeared, and the dog died after eating it. After this incident, her friend no longer had a dog, and there were still frequent arguments in the community group over dog ownership. Ms. Zhang, who lives in a residential area in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, told reporters that in July 2024, her community also had people poisoning dogs. At that time, 5 pet dogs were poisoned and died, including her pet dog Hua Hua. Ms. Zhang's Memories
Edit:Rina Responsible editor:Lily
Source:Legal Daily
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