All stray dogs captured on the streets of Shanghai will be sent to animal shelters, but will not be put to sleep, a city official said.

Ding Wei, director of the legislative affairs committee under the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, denied earlier media reports that a draft law required stray dogs to be put to sleep if no one claimed them within 30 days.

The draft legislation said dogs infected with diseases like rabies should be killed, but it has no explicit provision on the treatment of stray dogs.

Ding, who is in charge of research on the law's revision, said regulators and related departments in Shanghai are thinking of appropriate ways to treat stray dogs.

The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau said the city had about 800,000 pet dogs, of which more than 600,000 were unregistered and unlicensed.

With a large number of dogs on the streets, cases of dog attacks were also on the rise, with about 100,000 incidents yearly. In 2009, nearly 140,000 cases of dog-inflicted wounds were reported.

The growing risk of dog attacks and increasing impact on the public by barking and waste have sparked anger, and the public are calling for tougher regulations.

"It's really cruel, though the killing is necessary to fight against the deadly epidemic. But all lives are equal. The government could work out better ways to solve the stray dog issue, not just to sacrifice dogs for human health," said a woman, who has kept a dog for many years.

"What is needed is long-term proper management by the local government. It is just an expedient measure to kill all stray dogs in one night, and it doesn't solve the problem at the roots. The government should try to improve public awareness and knowledge on safe dog keeping," said another resident surnamed Zhang.

The draft is expected to be passed next year.