Other delegates held that dog registration fee should be spent on policing activities.

According to official figures, Beijing police collect 80 million yuan (about 9.64 million U.S. dollars) from local dog owners each year. Typically, dog owners pay 1,000 yuan the first year, and 500 every year afterwards.

Early this year, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Public Security said registration fees are handed over to the fiscal authority.

Beijing is to implement a "one dog, one family" policy in its bid to step up the fight against rabies, a fatal disease which claimed 318 lives nationwide in September.

The new policy was contained in a circular issued early November by the city's Public Security Bureau, Agriculture Bureau, Administration for Industry and Commerce and the city's law enforcement authorities for urban administration.

The circular listed nine districts -- including Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chongwen, Xuanwu, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan -- as major management zones.

On November 8, police made house calls in Beijing's luxury villa areas to check on illegal dog keeping. They discovered six large, unlicensed dogs.

By November 13, the canine inspection section of the municipal bureau of public security had rounded up 500 stray, unlicensed or abandoned dogs.

Beijing now has more than 550,000 registered dogs, up 20 percent on the previous year.

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