Shanghai Dog Vaccination Station
HUNDREDS of dog owners had their pets chipped and vaccinated yesterday, as Shanghai’s first law on keeping dogs came into effect. Under the new law, dogs must be chipped and vaccinated before they can be issued with a license. Dog licenses have been reduced in price from 2,000 yuan (US$307.8) to 500 yuan in a bid to get more pets registered.
Most of the city’s 20 vaccination sites had dealt with scores of dogs by yesterday afternoon, well up on usual.
One woman took her poodle who had been unlicensed for years to a vaccination center yesterday afternoon to get a chip in order to get a dog license which she now says is much more affordable. Police estimate there are 140,000 licensed dogs in Shanghai and at least 600,000 without licenses. Vaccination sites are preparing for even greater numbers of pets in the next few weeks as more people become familiar with the new laws and learn of these special locations to ring their pets.
The new reduced price of the license has brought in many dog owneers who had previously not gotten the license. Some owners even said they waited to renew their pets licenses so they could save $1,500 yuan. “I was told to wait for two months,” said a dog owner Chen Yi. Her dog received its annual vaccination March 2010 and should have received new shots two months ago. But she was advised to postpone it until the law was introduced and the cheaper price became available.
Officials and animal rescues anticipate some owners will dump pets, rather than register them, local dog rescue shelters have been ungraded and a website on adopting dogs will be launched shortly. Not everyone will be paying the same price for their dog license under the new policy, dog owners living within the Inner Ring Road pay 500 yuan for a license. Those outside the Inner Ring Road pay 300 yuan and those live rural areas are charged 100 yuan.
