A team of Beijing law experts is to spend a year investigating the problems and abuse of pets to help the government draw up new laws on animal care and controls.

City lawmakers have become alarmed at the problems brought about by the burgeoning number of pet owners and their animals in the Chinese capital, according to the Beijing Applied Legal Research Center.

The center, set up by the Beijing Law Society, will consider solutions to social problems such as dog attacks, noise, pollution, infectious diseases, as well as the abuse and abandonment of pets by their owners.

Some owners had little sense of sanitation and environmental protection, refusing to clean up excrement and letting their pets roam unrestrained, according to a commentary in Monday's Beijing Morning Post.

The number of people bitten by dogs in Beijing was rising by nearly 10,000 each year. About 70,000 people were injured by dogs in the first half year, according to the paper.

Moreover, the concept of a "pet" had extended beyond cats and dogs to include snakes, spiders and scorpions, which could pose a public safety risk, said commentary writer Ma Jun.

No legal grounds were available to stop people from abandoning and abusing their pets, and those who cared for the homeless animals could only accept a limited number, said Ma.

Wang Sen, head of the research team, said: "We will investigate these problems, and suggest a pet regulation system, which would be welcomed by pet owners and effective in reducing accidents."

Meanwhile, the center had also noticed more cases of animal abuse and abandonment, estimating about 400,000 homeless cats and dogs roamed Beijing, posing a potential threat to rabies control.

A non-governmental pet refuge organization in Beijing once received 23 abandoned cats in a single day.

"Many owners just dump their pets without consideration. Moral restraint is not enough to stop such behavior. Those people should be punished by law," said Zhang Lvping, head of the organization called "Humans and Animals".

Wang said the regulation would include penalties for abuse and abandonment.

He said the team would draw up comprehensive pet management outlines, including feeding, trading, vaccinating and grooming, aswell as managing pet products and people in the pet business.

(Xinhua Newes Agency September 11, 2006)