08/05/2008 – By Michelle Terrell
As most men know, walking a cute dog or cat is a chick magnet. This is a very common scene here in the U.S. but no longer in Saudi Arabia.
Men are no longer allowed to take their dogs or cats out for a stroll in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; due to a ban that was passed last Wednesday. All sales of cats and dogs in the capital have been banned and already owned pets can no longer be walked – in attempt to keep the sexes separate as required in the Islamic culture.
"The rising of phenomenon of men using cats and dogs to make passes at women and pester families," is the cause of the ban according to Othman al-Othman, from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. In addition they are apparently, "violating proper behavior in public squares and malls." This ban is to be strictly enforced unlike the bans in the cities of Mecca and Jeddah that were ignored.
"If a man is caught with a pet, the pet will be immediately confiscated and the man will be forced to sign a document pledging not to repeat the act," al-Othman told the Al-Hayat newspaper. "If he does, he will be referred to authorities."
Some think that this in attempt to curb the owning of pets, as it is a sign of corruption to conservative Saudis, similarly to shorts, fast food and pop music. Pet ownership in the Arab world is not very common, so it is not very common to see people walking their dogs in public or carrying their cats in the park. However, it is becoming more fashionable in the Saudi upper class and has apparently become enough of an issue to impose a ban.
