Shanghai enforces one-dog policy aimed at curbing rabies, dog attacks

China's biggest city is setting one-dog policy in an effort to curb the soaring pet population that has been linked to outbreaks of rabies.

From Sunday, officials in Shanghai will start enforcing a new one dog per family limit, with higher fines for pet owners in breach. Similar rules are already in effect in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Shanghai residents complain that many dog owners abandon their pets and that they more often face roaming bands of dogs in the streets, according to VOA. Chinese state media says since 2006, Shanghai has recorded at least 100,000 dog attacks each year.

Municipal officials say there are about 800,000 dogs living in the city with a human population of 23 million but that only about 140,000 of the dogs are registered.

Families that already own more than one dog will be allowed to keep them as long as they register the pets before the new law takes effect, and the city has  slashed registration fees from about $300 a year to less than $100 to encourage them to do so.

Vaccinated for rabies will also be cheaper, while fines for those who fail to get their dogs vaccinated will rise, as will fines for failure to clean up after dogs, abuse and abandonment.

According to the Herald Sun, some middle-class Chinese consider the one-dog policy an unwelcome intrusion into their private lives and "a reminder of extremist political campaigns in decades past, when pet keeping was deemed an anti-communist, bourgeoisie luxury."