Shanghai Starts One-Dog Policy --- News English 01

Shanghai Starts One-Dog Policy (15th May, 2011)
---News English Lessons
(http://www.newsenglishlessons.com/1105/110515-dog_control.html)

Dog lovers in Shanghai face strict new rules. China’s largest city has set a limit of one dog per family to try and keep down the pet population. City officials also say they want to stop rabies from increasing. About 2,500 people die of the disease every year in China. The new pet ownership rules are not all bad news for pet owners. The high fee for dog registration has come down, in the hope that more owners will register their animals. There are many unregistered dogs in the city.

The dog population in China has risen greatly as more people become richer. The problem is that not all pets are wanted. There are hundreds of thousands of abandoned dogs in China. People decide they no longer want their pet and throw it into the street. Local governments frequently kill tens of thousands of dogs to stop rabies spreading. Packs of stray dogs are a frequent sight in city suburbs. Dog owner Chu Lin said: “I agree this is a problem but I love my dogs. Why do I have to give one away?”

[Vocabulary]

(1) keep down <v.phr>

 to make something stay at a low level; to avoid increasing something

(2) rabies <n>

     a disease of dogs and other animals that causes madness and death. Infected

     animals can pass the disease to humans by biting them.

(3) come down <v.phr>

      to fall; to get lower

(4) packs <n>

     a group of animals

[Comment]
　　Stray dogs is a big problem in Taiwan. Recently in our campus, dogs became the hot topics. It is about "to keep them" or "to drive them out." Two different parts had their own opinions. How to treat the animals like stray dogs? At least Shanghai started a new policy that can prevent the happening of stray dogs. It is our mandatory to take care of the animals that we want to keep. Or we have no right to detest the complicated policy, not to mention stray dogs.