BEIJING — For the dog killers, it was so easy. Arrive under the cloak of darkness. Bang on pots and pans. Set off firecrackers. Their prey would bark and then meet certain death, beaten on the spot with a wooden mop handle.

That was one of the ways authorities in southwestern China managed to annihilate the entire dog population of a county within five days. More than 50,000 canines were killed in the campaign last week aimed at stemming a rabies outbreak. About 360 of the area's 200,000 residents had been bitten by dogs this summer, and three of them died, including a 4-year-old girl.

The only dogs spared were military and police canines. For each dead animal, owners were compensated 60 cents.

"With the aim to keep this horrible disease from people, we decided to kill the dogs," Li Haibo, a government spokesman for Mouding County in Yunnan province, was quoted as saying by the official New China News Agency.

This may be the Year of the Dog in China, an auspicious zodiac sign that has prompted countless couples to rush to the altar and have babies in hopes of providing them with a lucky start on life. But dogs are not always treated as man's best friend here.

According to Chinese tradition, dogs have three reasons to exist: to hunt other animals, to guard homes and to be served as food. The idea of dogs as pets is a relative novelty.

During the austere days of communist rule, cats and dogs practically disappeared from daily life, rejected as symbols of bourgeois materialism and shunned by the masses.

But since China embarked on capitalist-style reforms two decades ago, dogs have become status symbols and companions in an increasingly alienated society. Beijing has more than 400,000 registered dogs.

Even so, authorities conduct frequent raids to kill strays and confiscate dogs considered too large for city living.

Activists point out that China has no laws to protect animals, except for endangered species. Education about rabies prevention remains poor and rabies-related deaths are on the rise. The dog vaccination rate is about 3 percent, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Pet ownership is now a way of life in China. The government must come up with a rational and humane way of managing this phenomenon," said Jeff He, a spokesman for the Beijing office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which sent a protest letter to Mouding County officials. "This kind of extreme action can only tarnish China's international image."

County residents interviewed by phone said the killing appeared indiscriminate. They said about 4,000 dogs already vaccinated against rabies were among those slaughtered, because of the slight chance they could spread the disease.

Before the massacre began, authorities gave dog owners a chance to do the dirty work themselves.

Xu Jiajin, a 70-year-old farmer, said his village had about 90 families and more than 100 dogs. The villagers were told the dogs had to be killed by July 27 and buried in five mass graves, each big enough to hold about 20 carcasses.

"It's an order — we had no choice but to obey," Xu said from his home.

Like most villagers, his family chose to hang its dog on a tree near its home. If not, the family was told, the dog could be buried alive.

To prevent any dogs from leaving town, authorities set up checkpoints on all major roads leading into and out of the county. Any dogs found in vehicles were subject to immediate execution.