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When your dear dog happens to bite a neighbor and she needs treatment, what can you do when the question of compensation arises?

Nothing except pay the bill yourself, right? Well, maybe not.

In Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, you can buy insurance to cover your compensation fees for other people who might be bitten by your dogs, according to the Yangtze Evening News, a local newspaper.

Premiums range from 20 yuan (US$ 2.56) to 100 yuan (US$ 12.80) a year and compensations vary accordingly from 20,000 yuan (US$ 2,560) to 100,000 yuan (US$ 12,800).

"Sometimes dog bites can lead to a compensation even more expensive than the dog itself," said Xu Hui, who, by paying the 100 yuan premium, became the first person in Nanjing to sign up for the insurance. "Paying so much could be heart-wrenching."

The insurance, launched by China Pacific Insurance Co, is called Pet Owner Responsibility Insurance. It is currently restricted to dogs.

The compensation covers both body damage, meaning death or deformity caused by dog bites, and medical fees, including rabies vaccination.

According to the company, only dogs with vaccination licenses may be covered by the insurance.

While most people welcome the insurance, some residents worry that dog owners may relax their control over their dogs and dog bites may become all the more serious.

In Nanjing, a city of 7 million people and about 100,000 dogs, dog bites have become a serious problem. In the first 10 months of last year, 15,000 people were hospitalized after being bitten by dogs. The city averages about 50 dog bites per day.

The victims could be anyone, including children, the elderly and pregnant women. In the first 10 months of last year, Nanjing No 2 Hospital received more than 14,400 animal-bite patients, 90 percent of whom were bitten by dogs.

A director from the Nanjing Disease Prevention and Control Centre said dogs have not only threatened human security, but also aroused panic, broken good neighborhood relations, polluted the environment and disrupted the lives of many people.

Insurance for dog bites has also been launched in most of China's big cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Up to 1 million yuan (US$128,000) worth of premiums has been collected in Beijing, where 70,000 people reported being bitten by dogs in the first half of last year.

(China Daily January 11, 2007)