Published May 07, 2013
Looking to get an early notice on impending earthquakes, one Chinese city has decided to ditch technology in favor of a more unconventional system: dogs.
They will "act abnormally when an earthquake is coming," an official surnamed Song told the AFP.
Song said the dogs are based in Nanching -- a city in eastern China -- and will start acting up as many as 10 days in advance.
The provincial government requested the dogs to be used, but residents are complaining about their false alarm barks, the Chinese news website Dajiang reports.
"The compound of the Nanchang earthquake authority has -- I don't know how many -- dogs; every night at 11 p.m. they start barking over and over," one person said.
Around 200 people were killed or missing following an earthquake in Sichuan province last month, AFP reports.