健康英语新闻:Capital calls on dog owners to help fight rabies

BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The city government called on residents to register their dogs on time and keep better control of them to fight the increasing number of rabies cases during a discussion of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress on Friday.

"As the number of dogs in the city rises, the number of dog bites is also going up," said Lei Decai, director of the rural affairs committee of the people's congress.

Last year, more than 30,000 residents were bitten by dogs and nine died of rabies. As of June this year, six people have died of rabies, Lei said.

"The main problem lies in the registration of dogs," he said, adding that the number of unlicensed dogs in the city is unknown.

A man takes his dog for a spin on the back of a motorized tricycle in a Beijing street last month. The city plans to strengthen management of dogs in the future in an effort to combat the spread of rabies, which can be fatal if it is not treated in time

At the beginning of June, eight residents were attacked by dogs in Beijing's Olympic Forest Park.

One of them, Zhao Haiyan, 56, a retiree, was bitten in her left leg as she walked in the park. The puncture wounds left her leg bleeding.

"An officer in the park brought me to a hospital to get vaccinated for rabies, and I had no idea who I could ask for compensation, because the dog was fed by workers in a construction site and had no registration," she told China Daily.

"Now I worry when I see an unleashed dog," she added.

Zhao is not alone. Cao Lifang, also 56, has helped a friend care for a dog since February. Dabai, a 6-year-old male Samoyed, bit her in mid-June when she was trying to keep him from fighting another dog.

The attack left a deep bite mark on Cao's left hand, and she had to take anti-rabies injections for more than a month.