YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia -- Asia has a dog problem. There are 30 million stray dogs in India. In Beijing and Tianjin, there are 1.3 million homeless dogs and cats. Some 70,000 puppies are born annually on the streets of Thailand, while the Indonesian resort island of Bali has half a million dogs -- many of them homeless.
The Asian animal welfare groups that collect these figures say the stray pet population is continuing to grow, along with its associated problems: noise pollution, animal abuse, the dogfighting industry and the dog meat trade. In China alone, 10 million dogs are eaten annually, according to Animals Asia, an animal rights charity founded in Hong Kong.
