Beijing goes digital in crackdown on dogs

BEIJING, May 3 (Reuters) Chinese authorities have begun implanting digital identification chips in the capital's dogs, state media reported today, months after the government launched a campaign against unregistered pets.

The rice grain-sized chips would be injected into the necks of dogs in a pilot project in Beijing's Xicheng District, where some 10,000 dogs are registered, before being rolled out across the city, Xinhua news agency said.

The high-tech system comes as China has been criticised for the zeal with which it began removing unregistered pets from owners and culling stray dogs to try to curb rabies outbreaks and better regulate ownership.

City officials in Beijing went door-to-door looking for owners who had contravened a ''one-dog policy'' and pets that exceeded a 35 cm height limit.

Beijing has registered about 600,000 dogs, but statistics from the Beijing Association of Small Animal Protection showed there are an equal number of unregistered dogs in the city, Xinhua said.

Rabies killed more than 2,000 people across the country last year, it added.

REUTERS SCT VV1437