A second Chinese city is planning a mass dog slaughter to contain a rabies outbreak, state media said, days after a similar cull of 50,000 dogs prompted outrage and criticism.

Officials in the eastern city of Jining said they would kill all dogs within three miles of areas where rabies was found, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The measure came in response to the deaths of 16 people from rabies in Jining in the past eight months, Xinhua said.

It didn't say how many animals would be killed, but said the city had about 500,000 dogs. Rabies cases are on the rise in China, with more than 2,000 people dying from the disease each year.

Only three per cent of the country's dogs are vaccinated against rabies.

The slaughter in Jining, in Shandong province, comes just days after the killings of a reported 50,000 dogs in a week-long crackdown in Mouding county in southwestern China's Yunnan province, launched after three people died of rabies. Thousands were beaten to death with clubs.

The slaughter in Jining, in Shandong province, comes just days after the killings of a reported 50,000 dogs in a week-long crackdown in Mouding county in southwestern China's Yunnan province, launched after three people died of rabies. Thousands were beaten to death with clubs.

The earlier massacre sparked unusually pointed criticism in state media. "I think this is completely insane,'' Zhang Luping, founder of the Beijing Human and Animal Environmental Education Centre, said.

reported on aol news 5/6/06

Surely there must be a more humane method of destruction?

The British Isles have been free of classical rabies for many decades, but because of the existence of the disease elsewhere there is concern about rabies being reintroduced by imported animals. All rabies susceptible animals entering the UK are required to spend six months in quarantine, unless arriving under and complying with all the conditions of the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS).

Further information on the level of rabies in other countries around the world is available on the World Health Organisation website. Information on rabies in Europe can be found on the Rabies Bulletin Europe website.

EC Regulation 998/2003 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals applied from 3 July 2004. The Regulation, operated in the UK as the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) allows cats, dogs, ferrets, domestic rabbits and rodents which comply with certain conditions and are from qualifying countries only (see map above) to enter the UK without going into quarantine.