Egypt's draft law forbids taking dangerous animals in public places

CAIRO - 17 May 2023: A draft law regulating the possession of dangerous animals and keeping dogs, which was finally approved by the House of Representatives, prohibited bringing dangerous animals into public places.

 

Article 3 of the law stipulates that: “It is forbidden to take any of the dangerous animals in public places," while Article 4 of the same draft law set a set of controls and measures to ensure that the animals do not escape, as it stipulates: “The owner of dangerous animals is obligated to take the necessary precautions and measures to ensure that they do not escape."

 

Article 5 stipulates: “The owner of dangerous animals is obligated to provide veterinary care for them, in particular immunizing them against diseases determined by the competent minister based on the presentation of the competent authority, and to keep records that include their medical history, in addition to providing safe and suitable shelters for dangerous animals in accordance with the requirements specified by the authority competent, and feed it with appropriate food and in sufficient quantities."

 

The draft law aims to establish a legislative and legal framework to deal with some of the phenomena that Egyptian society has witnessed in the recent period related to dealing with dangerous animals that cause harm to humans and animals. 

 

The report indicated that the Egyptian society witnessed during the last period a number of catastrophic accidents caused by some animals, including dogs, especially species that are famous for their ferocity, whether they were accompanied by their owner or while roaming freely in gardens, parks, residential or hotel buildings without their owner or their companion taking the procedures and measures that provide protection and security to others.

 

This phenomenon resulted in the injury of a large number of children, young people and the elderly of both sexes with injuries that almost killed their lives, in addition to the spread of the phenomenon of acquiring predatory animals such as lions, tigers, species of monkeys and other dangerous animals, and their owners not taking care and caution in dealing with them and leaving them loose, which led to their escape, causing panic among the citizens.

 

The report pointed out that the phenomenon of the spread of stray dogs in Egyptian streets and squares without protection or health care was monitored, which caused an increase in sterilization cases until it reached about 400 thousand injuries, which burdened the state’s general budget with huge financial burdens to import rabies serum.