Dogs in China

[Guest guest]

The following article is of tremendous importance, for quite

a number of reasons. To begin with, it postulates that China now

has more dogs per capita than either India or Mexico, which have

national ratios of one dog per 10 humans, with about 75%-80% of the

dogs roaming at large.

 

The one-to-10 ratio seems to be about the norm in nations

where dogs are primarily outdoor scavengers and rat-hunters. I am

not aware of anywhere that it has been exceeded before dogs generally

become dependent upon direct feeding instead of upon their own

scavenging and foraging.

 

The one-to-nine ratio means China is close to the overall

European ratio, which tends to be very low where the human

population density is highest, e.g. 1/25 in Paris, and 1/11 in the

Netherlands, but rises to about 1/7 where people have more space for

dogs.

 

The nations with the highest dogs-to-humans ratios are the

U.S., Australia, and Costa Rica, each at about one dog per five

humans.

 

As the dogs-to-humans ratio increases, the standards of care

tend to increase, of necessity, because unless dogs are being fed,

protected from traffic, etc., they simply cannot maintain such a

high abundance, and will tend to slip back in numbers toward the

one-to-10 background level.

 

Second in importance is that China is said to have

approximately as many pet dogs already as the U.S. (61 million) and

Europe combined.

 

Further, even if one assumes that dogs raised for meat have

been lumped into the total, as may well be the case, pet dogs would

appear to outnumber meat dogs by a ratio of about 19-1, if one goes

by Paul Littlefair's (RSPCA) estimate of the scale of the dog meat

trade (6-8 million dogs eaten per year.)

 

Third in importance is that the official Chinese news media

are clearly beginning to look at dogs as positive contributors to the

national economy.

 

That signifies a huge potential turnabout in public attitudes

toward dogs.

 

--Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

Xinhua News Agency 2005-02-14 11:27:43

 

Pets contribute to China's economy

 

XI'AN, Feb. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- China, the world's most populous nation,

has about 150 million pet dogs -- about one for every nine people --

suggesting yet another promising consumers' market in the country,

according to the China Animal Agriculture Association's National

Kennel Club.

 

An average Chinese city has about 100,000 dogs and gains about 10,000

per year, while large cities can have twice as many. Beijing had more

than 500,000 pet dogs in 2004.

 

Behind the large pet population, analysts said, is a market with huge

growth potential.

 

Pet owners in Beijing spend more than 500 million yuan (more than 60

million US dollars) on their pets a year, according to the kennel

club, and Shanghai seems to have a new pet shop open almost every week.

 

A purebred, well-shaped dog can sell as much as a million yuan, while

the cheapest cost just tens of yuan.

 

Pet sales and services such as medicine, hairdressing and food are

also emerging industries here.

 

Experts predicted that the annual sale of pet food and necessities in

the country might exceed 6 billion yuan by 2008.

 

They also predicted the market potential for the " pet economy " in

China could reach a minimum of 15 billion yuan.

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