China uses earthquake prediction dogs

A city in China is using dogs to predict earthquakes, according to an official on May 7, after the country's media reported on people's reflection on the nightly barking of dogs.

China often suffers from earthquakes. About 200 people were killed or missing by the earthquake in Sichuan province last month, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed by major disasters in the past.

Photo: Reuters

According to AFP, a Tong official confirmed to the company that the earthquake agency in Nanchang City, the capital of Jiangxi Province, is raising dogs because they will "behave abnormally whenever an earthquake is about to happen." out'.

According to the official, the agency uses dogs at the request of the provincial government. In addition, chickens and ducks can also predict earthquakes, according to him.

However, people living next to the agency complained on social networks about howling dogs every night, according to Dajiang official website of Jiangxi Province.

'I don't know how many dogs are in the block of the earthquake control agency in Nam Xuong, every 11 hours every night they start barking from one round to the next,' Dajiang website quoted one resident.

Tong told AFP dogs were now sent to a lower-level earthquake control agency in the city but denied that they barked every night.

However, Dajiang quoted him as saying the dogs could be muzzled to dispel people's fears.

When asked if this measure would affect the dog's ability to predict earthquakes, he admitted yes and said he would appeal to his superiors to find a solution.