Joint effort called for on stray animals

Managing an increasing number of stray cats and dogs in communities should be a joint effort by residential complexes, neighborhood committees and subdistricts, according to a proposal by political adviser Zhu Naimei.

Zhu said the animals posed risks to residents with more reports of people being attacked and the possibility of spreading rabies.  

Stray animals are often in poor health and behaved more aggressively due to a lack of care and food, Zhu said. 

The noise of cats can be annoying when they are in heat, they can bite through cables and damage the environment.

She said there were various factors contributing to the increase in the stray animal population. Some animal lovers were feeding them, causing more animals to gather and speeding mass reproduction.

Since there were no related regulations on the management of stray animals, no specific measures had been taken by communities' property management companies and neighborhood committees to deal with the problem.

There were also no formal animal shelters set by local government as well as professional groups and funding. Most of the current shelters had been opened by non-governmental organizations.

Zhu said communities should collect ideas from residents on how to manage these cats and dogs. Casual feeding should be prevented and, instead, animal lovers are encouraged to participate in the treatment of these animals.

The government should establish shelters for these animals with guidelines on their coverage, sites and adoption standards.