Hundreds of citizens microchipped and vaccinated their pets as a new law took effect Sunday limiting households to a single canine in an effort to curb rampant barking, unscooped waste and the growing risk of dog attacks.

To encourage more pet owners to license their dogs, the government of the commercial metropolis slashed the cost of the permits in the city centre to 500 yuan ($77) from the previous 2,000 yuan, the Shanghai Daily said.

Residents who owned two or more licensed dogs before Sunday will be allowed to keep them but must maintain each dog's permit, state media reported.

Dog ownership has grown alongside China's fast-expanding middle class with official estimates putting Shanghai's pet dog population at 800,000. Previous reports have said only a quarter of that number are registered.

The city's human population was more than 19 million in 2009, according to the government.

Many dog owners postponed obtaining new licences until the cheaper rate took effect, causing a spike in traffic at animal vaccination centres, the Shanghai Daily said.

Animal rescue shelters have also been expanded in the expectation that many owners will abandon their dogs to avoid paying the licence fees, the report said.

The government had previously said tighter regulation was needed to prevent adverse effects on the city's environment from noise, waste, and dog attacks.

There were about 58 million pet dogs in 20 major Chinese cities at the end of 2009 and the figure is rising about 30 percent each year, according to a recent survey by Beijing-based magazine Dog Fans.

earlier related report
Beijing police crack down on fake booze
Beijing (AFP) May 16, 2011 - Police in Beijing have detained 11 suspects and confiscated more than 10,000 bottles of fake foreign liquor destined for use at the Chinese capital's bars and nightclubs, state press said Monday.

Police confiscated the fake booze -- including bottles of whisky labelled Chivas, Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniel's -- in raids on six Beijing area manufacturing outlets last week, the Global Times said.

Manufacturers allegedly bottled cheap bulk liquor, or even toxic industrial alcohol such as methanol, into bottles with well-known brand names, the report said.

With an average bottle of phony liquor costing about 10 yuan ($1.50) to produce, manufacturers and nightclubs could rake in major profits by selling the contraband for up to 580 yuan a bottle to customers, the paper said.

"Some fake liquor is adulterated whisky, and some are just mixtures of erguotou (a cheap Chinese grain alcohol) and green tea," the paper quoted Li Jin, a Beijing nightclub employee, as saying.

Fake booze is "pervasive" in Beijing, Li was cited as saying, and up to 90 percent of customers cannot tell the real from the fake.

A wave of tainted food scares has renewed fears in China over continued product-safety problems despite a government promise to clean up the food industry following a deadly 2008 milk scandal.

Tainted pork, toxic milk, dyed buns and other dodgy foods have surfaced in recent months, making consumers ill and highlighting the government's apparent inability to oversee China's huge and under-regulated food industry.

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