I *think* huacao is from Shanghai according his/her earlier postings. Lilith Cherry seems to believe this as well.

The website http://mypethome.chinapet.com/ seems to me to be a pet community with forums. I'm having trouble loading the page right now so I can't be entirely sure.

I recently saw a Chinese film titled "Kala, my dog" (2003) and it was then that I was first made aware of the unfortunate results of these expensive dog licensing laws. For example, I found a website stating that in Shanghai licenses for dogs living within the city proper are 2,000 RMB per dog per year (approx. $240) and licenses for dogs living outside of the city are 1,000 RMB per dog per year (approx. $120). According to the film, police will periodically go to parks or places where dogs and owners are gathered and check for licenses. If you cannot produce a current license upon request, your dog will immediately be confiscated by the police. These strict laws were put into effect in 1997 and seem to have been in response to increased incidences of dog bites and the fear of rabies. Lilith Cherry, huacao or others, please feel free to correct me if any of this is inaccurate.

Maybe huacao can give us more information about these pictures but even then I'm not sure there is really anything we can do about it. However, this does *not* mean I'm not willing to try.