Dogs in Saudi

This was in the news recently. This is the kind of thing that convinces me that werewolves are in total control of Islam.

Saudi Arabia bans pet sales in Riyadh to stop flirting

By DONNA ABU-NASR

The Associated Press

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia | Every single man knows this: Walking a dog in the park is a sure way to attract the ladies. Saudi Arabia knows it, too.

So the nation's Islamic religious police, in their zeal to keep the sexes apart, want to make sure the technique doesn't catch on here.

The solution: Ban selling dogs and cats as pets, as well as walking them in public.

The prohibition went into effect Wednesday in the capital, Riyadh, and authorities in the city say they will strictly enforce it — unlike previous bans in the cities of Mecca and Jiddah, which have been ignored and failed to stop pet sales.

Violators found outside with their pets will have their companions confiscated by agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the official name of the religious police that enforces Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic code.

The commission's general manager, Othman al-Othman, said the ban was ordered because of what he called "the rising of phenomenon of men using cats and dogs to make passes at women and pester families" as well as "violating proper behavior in public squares and malls."

"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 Al-Hayatnewspaper. "If he does, he will be referred to authorities." The ban does not address women.

So far, the prohibition did not appear to have any effect in Riyadh. It's extremely rare, anyway, to see anyone in the capital walking a dog — much less carrying a cat in public— despite the authorities' claims of flirtatious young men luring girls with their pets in malls.

Salesmen at a couple of Riyadh pet stores said Thursday they did not receive any orders from the commission banning the sale of pets. Cats and dogs were still on display.

The prohibition may be more of an attempt to curb the owning of pets, which conservative Saudis view as a sign of corrupting Western influence.

Although it has never been common to own pets in the Arab world, it's becoming increasingly fashionable among the upper class in Saudi Arabia and other countries such as Egypt.

In Islamic tradition, dogs are shunned as unclean and dangerous, though they are kept for hunting and guarding.

The ban on cats is more puzzling, since there's no similar disdain for them in Islamic tradition.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/729390.html