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1-Dog Rule Gnaws on Chinese
Owners refuse to give up pooches, despite crackdown
By Kevin Spak
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Posted Aug 17, 09 9:31 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Guangzhou residents have gotten used to the one-child rule, but they’re drawing a line in the sand when it comes to their city’s new one-dog policy, ABC News reports. Most are ignoring or evading the month-old rule. “I’ll definitely not give up on my dogs, because they’re a part of my life,” says one office worker, who owns six dogs. “I’m very angry,” says another owner. “What’s the difference between one dog or two dogs?”
Dogs, once outlawed as a bourgeois luxury, have become quite popular among China’s rising middle class. But authorities are fed up with the growing ranks of abandoned strays, the messes they leave, and the complaints they draw from neighbors. A local animal rights group is urging owners to be flexible, suggesting owners have relatives register their excess dogs for them.