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Iranian animal lovers decry plan to ban pets
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An Iranian woman poses for a picture with her dog at a park in the capital Tehran, on December 7, 2021. (AFP/Atta Kenare)
"No, my cat is not dangerous," says Iranian animal lover Mostafa, outraged by a proposal from ultraconservative lawmakers to ban pets.
The 25-year-old, who runs a pet supplies shop on busy Eskandari Street in downtown Tehran, is stunned.
"Crocodiles can be called dangerous, but how can rabbits, dogs and cats be dangerous?" he asked incredulously about the bill introduced a month ago.
The proposed law pits growing numbers of people with pets against those who consider the practice decadent and hold that under Islamic law dogs, like pigs, are unclean.
According to media reports, 75 MPs, or one quarter of parliamentarians, recently signed a text entitled "Support for the rights of the population in relation to harmful and dangerous animals".
In their introduction, the authors condemn the practice of humans living under one roof with domesticated animals as a "destructive social problem".
The phenomenon, they explain, could "gradually change the Iranian and Islamic way of life" by "replacing human and family relationships with feelings and emotional relationships towards animals".
