June 12, It is satisfactory to learn that} the Shanghai Municipal Police, was to be expected, are taking prompt measures to' enforce the Council's regulations regarding! muzzling. In particular they are giving attention to the stray dog nuisance, which, as a correspondent points out to-day, is in many, respects the most important factor in the tables situation.—These strays either emerge from some dim. recesses in the Settlement or wander in here out of the "blue." Unfortunately the Shanghai Municipal Police have not yet been able to arrange for a common policy be adopted by all three municipal bodies in regard to these! strays, so the Settlement has to cope not only with the stray of!
own production but also with! the stray from outside. However, the Police are apparently determined to round up—and if necessary "destroy—that class of pest. It is highly desirable that they: should. The stray dog, in the of his journey, "aimlessly seeking sustenance here and shelter} there, is apt to encounter other dogs or cats and the outcome of the meeting may involve an interchange of amenities as the result of which further danger of rabies accrues. The owner of the amiable tabby cat may be in blissful \gnorance that his pet, on her lawful occasions, has had the misfortune: to incur the forcible disapproval of the stray and may already be developing the rabic disorder which makes her a menace to the household where, for so long, she has been a comfortable companion. In the event, of course, it entails her destruction and the members of the household and, perhaps, other owners of respectable cats and dogs are lucky if the tale of woe ends there.
There is little doubt that a sweeping and sustained campaign against stray dogs would greatly minimize the danger of rabies. The Police have the right to expect co-opera tion from dog-owners. The difculty of quickly detecting the veritable stray is reduced if dog-owners take every possible care to ensure that their animals when on exercise or duty bent, are under control or sufficiently' to heel to prevent misunderstanding of their tatus. It may be that the authorities will find it necessary drastically to insist that every dog must appear in public on a lead, otherwise he will be treated as 'a stray. The Police, in enforcing the regulations, will be able to rely on the good sense of the public. No-one expects that by a waving of the Council's hand, as it were, the ownerless dog or other stray, will immediately be spirited from the Public streets. The junk-dog, for example, offers a peculiar complexity te the problem, but he should be dealt with firmly for he is often as great a danger as the nondescript mongrel to whom no owner lays claim. Now that the Council's officers have made up their minds to tackle the danger, they will no daub!, persevere with their protective measures and, given reasonable time, show that the stray nuisance has been virtually eliminated as a serious factor in the problem. Effective muzzling of dogs will presumably be enforced with equal
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.