LEGISLATORS’ proposal to classify dogs as “dangerous animals” has sparked alarm among animal lovers in Bahrain.
The GDN reported on Saturday that Parliament will review a proposal to include a chapter in the Dangerous Animals’ Possession draft law putting “man’s best friend” in the same category as tigers, lions, alligators and other wild animals.
Animal and Environment Protection Charity Organisation (AEPCO) president Shaikha Marwa bint Abdulrahman Al Khalifa expressed shock at what she called “vague” proposal.
“There are two separate laws that exist and should be implemented in Bahrain – one is a comprehensive pet ownership law and the other governs the dangerous animals,” she told the GDN.
“AEPCO travelled to the UAE last June and acquired the laws from the Climate Change and Environment Ministry concerning animal welfare – the Dangerous Animals’ Possession Law and the Pet Ownership Law.”
Copies were presented to the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, the Supreme Council for Environment and MPs, said Shaikha Marwa.
“We didn’t ask for them to combine dogs under wildlife or dangerous animals.”
She said they would back the proposal if it specified dangerous breeds such as mastiffs and pit bulls often used in dog fighting, but a generalisation of all dogs is “unrealistic and outrageous”.
She stressed that no dog should be sold or treated at a veterinary clinic without being microchipped.
Meanwhile, Scottish singer-songwriter Sandi Thom, who runs the Bahrain Animal Rescue Centre (BARC), said such a proposal is an “archaic and lazy approach to solve an existing problem”.
“I don’t think it will be passed because there are enough people who oppose the proposal and a big number of expat community members that are upset by those types of actions.”
Ms Thom suggested outsourcing the mass sterilisation to organisations such as the US-based Humane International Society to deal with the growing stray dog population in the country.
Meanwhile, animal lovers took to social media expressing frustration and disbelief at the proposal.
“If humans would stop throwing their dogs out when they can’t take care of them and if breeders stopped breeding more dogs than they could handle, Bahrain wouldn’t have a stray dogs issue,” expressed a person on the social media.
The GDN previously reported that according to rough estimates it is believed that Bahrain is home to more than 25,000 stray dogs and the number is growing.
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