Lebanon’s government has recently approved the draft of an animal welfare and protection law which when passed would be the country’s first law of its kind.
The law was drafted by animal rights group Animals Lebanon with a committee from the Agriculture Ministry, the head of the group Jason Miers told Reuters TV in an interview.
”Animals Lebanon started this campaign to enact a national law about animal welfare specifically at the end of 2009. What had happened was there was a circus that came from Egypt to Lebanon. The circus came in and it was obvious there was animal welfare concerns plus problems with paperwork and permits and even the circus owner himself had a terrible track record going back 15 years. We went to the minister of agriculture begging him please do something about this circus, he said: ‘Ethically you may be right, morally you may be right but legally I do not have the ability to confiscate these animals.
“In the future you want me to take a better action, bring me a law, and I am happy to support you,” Mier recounted.
The law is a good step forward, Mier added, but it needs to be passed by parliament before it can come into action.
Animals Lebanon is one of several animal rights groups based in Lebanon that have gained recognition for working to promote awareness among the public.
They run a center that shelters stray animals and helps reunited lost pets with their owners or find new homes for them. Their Facebook page has garnered more than 60,000likes since it was created in 2008. Their online petition for the draft law has received about 40,000 signatures.
The new law will govern all aspects of protection and welfare of animals in Lebanon, another member of Animals Lebanon told Reuters Television.
”The animal welfare and protection law that Animals Lebanon launched covers many aspects, it covers the businesses that have animals in them, individuals who have animals in their homes, zoos, pet shops, animal trading and even people who breed animals. All of this is covered by the law and has standards for it. In addition, people who have dogs and pets at home, they are not allowed to mistreat animals,” said Maggie Al Shaarawi, the vice-president of the group.
”We handed over the draft of the law to the ministry of agriculture which in accordance with Lebanese law handles the animal resources, we studied the law for a year and a half with a committee appointed by the ministry, and with joint cooperation the law was presented to cabinet and was approved about a week ago, now it awaits parliament to convene to approve the law so it can be published,” Al Shaarawi added,
The cabinet approval of the new law came a few months after a major scandal led to the closure of several slaughterhouses across the country, including Beirut’s only slaughterhouse, for not meeting the health standards required by the ministry of health. The ministry said at the time that the poor condition of the animals being kept in the slaughterhouses was among the concerns that led to the closures.
(Reuters)