Will dogs, cats and rabbits be banned in Iran? However, according to the BBC, a bill is under consideration that would ban residents from owning a pet, which the Middle Eastern country sees as a symbol of “Westernization”.
More specifically, the Law on the Protection of Human Rights from Animals, currently under consideration by the Iranian Parliament, provides for “the importation, purchase, sale, transportation and possession” of many pets, including cats, rabbits or other to ban turtles. Violators face a fine of 790 euros if the law is passed.
Restrictions have already begun: Iranian police recently announced that walking dogs is now a criminal offense in the country. The practice is now banned in the name of “public safety”.
While according to Dr. Ashkan Shemirani, a veterinarian in Tehran, doesn’t have “firm rules about dog ownership,” law enforcement officials have arrested people for “walking their dog or even transporting it by car.” A “prison” for pets has been created, according to the veterinarian.
Owning a pet has been in the sights of Iranian officials for several years. “The debates about this law began more than a decade ago when a group of Iranian lawmakers tried to promote a law that would confiscate all dogs to be entrusted to zoos or abandoned in the desert,” explains Dr. Payam Mohebi to BBC. President of the Iranian Veterinary Association.
Since then, the topic has been raised regularly in Iran, with MPs mentioning in particular the possibility of “corporal punishment” for dog owners.
While it is common for Iranian rural families to own a dog and the country pioneered the Middle East by introducing an animal welfare law in 1948, everything changed during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The new regime gives a different look to domestic animals, which according to Islamic tradition are now considered unclean and condemned as a symbol of “Westernization”.
https://www.spamchronicles.com/owning-a-pet-could-soon-be-banned-by-law-in-iran/