HONG KONG — A major city in China is cracking down on pet dogs, banning dog walking during the day and prohibiting many larger breeds, after a publicized fight between a dog owner and a bystander.
香港——中國一座大城市正在嚴(yán)打?qū)櫸锕?,禁止白天遛狗,并且禁止飼養(yǎng)多個大型犬品種。此前,一名狗主人和一名旁觀者發(fā)生打斗,受到廣泛報道。
The new rules in Hangzhou, in eastern China, were adopted after a dog owner was filmed pushing and shoving a woman who had kicked his dog. Before the fight, surveillance footage showed a young boy hiding behind her as the dog circled them without a leash.
中國東部城市杭州的限狗令是在一名狗主人被拍到推搡一名踢狗的女子后通過的。監(jiān)控錄像顯示,打斗前,一個小男孩躲在該名女子身后,沒有栓狗繩的狗圍著他們轉(zhuǎn)。
The harsh restrictions on dogs — which hark back to anti-pet rules in earlier decades of Communist rule and reflect continuing tensions over the place of dogs in society — officially took effect on Thursday. In addition to a dog walking ban from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., officials vowed to confiscate or kill dogs that were not properly licensed, fining negligent owners 5,000 to 10,000 RMB, or $720 to $1,440. Dogs found outdoors outside of the curfew would also be “detained temporarily” and their owners could be fined.
對狗的嚴(yán)格禁令將于周四正式生效,這可以追溯到共產(chǎn)黨執(zhí)政最初幾十年的反寵物規(guī)定,也反映出圍繞狗在社會中所處地位的持續(xù)緊張局面。除了從早上7點(diǎn)到晚上7點(diǎn)禁止遛狗之外,官員們還誓言要沒收或捕殺沒有許可證的狗,對未經(jīng)批準(zhǔn)擅自養(yǎng)犬的主人處以5000至10000元人民幣的罰款(合720至1440美元)。在規(guī)定時間以外,在戶外發(fā)現(xiàn)的狗也會被“暫時扣留”,主人可能會面臨罰款。
The city has also banned 34 “vicious” large breeds, including Tibetan mastiffs, German shepherds, Great Danes, Chinese rural dogs and some mixed breeds. A volunteer involved in animal adoptions said this could make it difficult for dog owners who have already rescued large dogs.
這座城市還禁止飼養(yǎng)34種“烈性”大型犬品種,包括藏獒、德國牧羊犬、大丹犬、中華田園犬以及一些混合品種。一名參與動物收養(yǎng)的志愿者表示,這可能會給那些營救大型犬的狗主人帶來麻煩。
Hangzhou’s animal rights volunteers said that they had seen dogs of all sizes being confiscated this week. Thousands have also commented on a post on Weibo, a popular social media platform, from the International Olympic Committee to debate Hangzhou’s fitness to host the 2022 Asian Games in light of its treatment of dogs.
杭州的動物權(quán)益志愿者說,本周他們已經(jīng)看到各種大小的犬類被沒收。數(shù)千人來到國際奧委會在人氣頗高的社交媒體平臺微博上的一篇帖子下面留言,爭論鑒于杭州對待狗的方式,這座城市是否還適合舉辦2022年亞運(yùn)會。
Videos of uniformed city law enforcers beating dogs with metal poles have circulated widely on Chinese social media and chat groups. But the authenticity of the videos could not be verified, as similar crackdowns have occurred in other cities in the past, and it is unclear when the videos were filmed. Before the recent wave of viral videos appeared, a district in Hangzhou released a statement asking the public not to believe “rumors” pertaining to dogs and its law enforcement, adding that they had reported the “malicious spreading” of rumors to the public security agency.
身穿制服的城管人員用金屬棒打狗的視頻在中國的社交媒體和聊天群里廣泛傳播。但其真實(shí)性無法核實(shí),類似的打狗行動在其他城市也曾發(fā)生過,尚不清楚這些視頻是何時拍攝的。在近期病毒式傳播的視頻浪潮出現(xiàn)之前,杭州的一個區(qū)發(fā)布聲明,要求公眾不要相信有關(guān)“謠言”,還說,針對“惡意傳播”謠言的行為,他們已向公安機(jī)關(guān)報案。
China has a history of using dogs to make aggressive political statements. Dogs were branded as political enemies in the 1940s for revealing the movements of Communist fighters who resisted Japanese colonizers by nightfall. For decades, they were derided as bourgeois house pets that wasted scarce resources. Sometimes, dogs were openly beaten on streets as an act of aggression.
中國有利用狗來發(fā)表激進(jìn)政治聲明的歷史。在1940年代,因暴露了抵抗日本殖民者的共產(chǎn)主義戰(zhàn)士在夜幕降臨前的行動,狗被打上政治敵人的標(biāo)簽。幾十年來,它們被嘲笑為浪費(fèi)稀缺資源的資產(chǎn)階級寵物。有時,作為一種挑釁,狗遭到當(dāng)街毆打。
Though many dog restrictions were gradually loosened after China’s economic reforms in the 1980s, some officials and others have remained hostile.
盡管上世紀(jì)80年代的經(jīng)濟(jì)改革后,許多針對狗的禁令已逐漸放松,但一些官員和其他人仍然懷有敵意。
Qin Xiaona, the director of the Capital Animal Welfare Association and a longtime animal rights campaigner, said that a deeply held fear of dogs revealed a society full of insecurity. “There is a lack of empathy for dogs, and also a lack of trust between humans,” she said, calling Hangzhou’s new restrictions “regressive,” “lazy” and “inhumane.”
首都愛護(hù)動物協(xié)會會長、長期從事動物權(quán)利活動的秦肖娜表示,對狗的深深恐懼暴露出一個充斥著不安全感的社會。“缺乏對動物的寬容,人與人之間也缺乏信任,”她指出,杭州的新禁令是“倒退”、“懶政”、“缺乏人道的”。
Pet ownership has become increasingly affordable for the emerging middle class, and animal rights activism is increasingly accepted, especially among younger generations. But some animal rights advocates acknowledge that the deeply rooted fear of dogs may also be aggravated by a lack of discipline on the part of some dog owners. City authorities have often reacted with harsh policies. Dog walking is also banned, for example, in Wenshan, a city in the southwestern province of Yunnan, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
對新興的中產(chǎn)階級來說,越來越多的人養(yǎng)得起寵物了,動物權(quán)利運(yùn)動也越來越被接受,尤其是在年輕一代當(dāng)中。但一些動物權(quán)利倡導(dǎo)者承認(rèn),一些主人缺乏自律,可能會加劇對狗根深蒂固的恐懼。市政當(dāng)局往往以嚴(yán)厲的政策來應(yīng)對。例如,在西南省份云南的文山市,從早上7點(diǎn)到晚上10點(diǎn)禁止遛狗。
Irene Feng, Animal Asia’s director of cat and dog welfare, said that friction between dog owners and fearful city dwellers would dwindle when “civilized dog-owning habits” are practiced, such as walking dogs on leashes and cleaning up after them.
亞洲動物基金貓狗福利項目總監(jiān)馮冬梅表示,形成“文明養(yǎng)狗習(xí)慣”后,比如遛狗牽繩、清理糞便等,狗主人和害怕的城市居民之間的沖突將會減少。
“To manage city dogs, you need to manage their owners well. This is a stance many urban departments can already understand,” she said, saying that she hoped that Hangzhou would lift its restrictions on its dogs as other cities had done.
“要管理城市犬只應(yīng)該做好養(yǎng)犬人的管理。這個觀點(diǎn)現(xiàn)在也是得到了很多城市養(yǎng)犬管理部門的認(rèn)可的,”她說,她希望杭州能像其他城市一樣,取消對狗的限制。