Dog owners in China will face stringent rules starting on May 1st that make it illegal to let their pooch off its leash in public or take their pet outside without its proper license.
The new leash laws are an amendment to the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law, passed in 1997. The law aims to implement rules that would reduce the spread of contagious disease among animals and mitigate the risk of diseases jumping from animals to humans.
The new amendment does not stipulate the punishments for violating the dog leashing rule. Still, experts and police officers said they think it will pose a strong deterrence towards those people with “uncivilised pet keeping behaviours”.
Many Chinese cities already have dog ownership regulations and some places even require leashes to be of a certain length. However, this is the first national law to regulate how people walk their pets.
Dog owners will also have to carry their official certification that proves they are registered to raise the dog. Usually the process requires taking the dog for vaccination and an annual fee.