Seven cats enough to put balance of rights out of kilter

RESIDENTS of a community in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, recently complained that one of the neighbors raised seven cats and let them live alone in an apartment, which caused a bad smell throughout the building. Thepaper.cn comments:

The residents complained about the bad smell, while the cats' owner said he had the right to raise pets. When the other residents called the urban management office, the office said they could prohibit people from raising cattle or poultry at home, but not cats or dogs.

True, there is no law forbidding people from having cats or dogs in a community. Although some community management companies might pass regulations that require pet owners to avoid disturbing other residents. However, these regulations have only limited power.