Keeping a pet in Iran could become a criminal offence. The interest in keeping dogs and cats has strongly increased within the past years. Hardliners in the Iranian parliament want to put paid on this now. Supported by 75 lawmakers there came up a bill called “Protection of the Public’s Rights Against Animals” last week. The bill forbids buying, selling and keeping nearly any type of pets.
In Islam dogs are considered to be „unclean“ animals. Hardliners try to convince by alleging that dogs left unattended in shared areas could cause “serious nuisance and bodily harm to people”. The bill provides high fines of between 900 and 2 700 dollars or forfeiture of the pet for contravention of the ban. If pet owners are caught walking their dogs outside, the sentence is proposed up to three months in prison. Pet owners can only hope for a serious discussion even among the conservative members now.
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