Cartoon by Jamal Rahmati

Iran to Crack Down on Dog Walkers

By Amelia Nierenberg and Leily Nikounazar

The New York Times: When Iran banned dog walking in 2019, few dog owners were all that worried about the order. But after years of lax enforcement, officials in recent days have pledged to crack down, according to the state news media.

Prosecutors in at least 20 cities cited public health risks and threats to public safety in announcing the heightened enforcement of the bans, which include both dog walking and driving with dogs.

“Dog walking is a clear crime,” Mohammad Hossein Doroudi, the prosecutor in Mashhad, told reporters on Monday as he announced that city’s plan, according to IRNA, a state-owned news outlet.

Iran’s government has also long seen pet dogs as a sign of Western cultural influence. And much of the opposition to dogs in Iran stems from religious beliefs, with dogs considered to be “najes,” or impure, in Islam.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, had issued a fatwa, or religious order, explaining the logic: A dog’s saliva or hair would render anything it touched — like a person, clothing or a surface — impure.

“Prayer is invalid with the presence of dog hair,” his fatwa read.
Some Iranian veterinarians and pet surgeons, like Dr. Damoon Ansari, are skeptical of the recent moves.

“Each summer, new plans emerge to regulate citizens’ morality or lifestyles,” Dr. Ansari, who is based in Tehran, said in a phone interview.

“This year, the focus is on dogs and dog walking.”

“The popularity of pet ownership has surged in recent years,” Dr. Ansari said,” pointing to a large number of veterinary clinics in cities across the country.

“Pets, including dogs, have become integral to Iranian family culture, even in religious households,” he said, adding, “Whether officials approve or not, they cannot eliminate the millions of pets in Iran.”

But even if officials are not planning to take away all pets, they are certainly trying to restrict their presence in public spaces.

Mr. Doroudi, the prosecutor in Mashhad, said that enforcement had lapsed over the past two years, but that officials now planned to be far more strict. He said that violators in Mashhad, Iran’s second-most populous city, would first receive a warning and that they could be fined or their dogs could be confiscated if they failed to comply.

“Dog walking is considered a threat to health and is considered a criminal behavior under the name of harassment of women and children,” Mr. Doroudi said, according to IRNA.

Some in Iran share the skepticism about dogs as pets, and while some tolerate the presence of guard dogs, they see the “man’s best friend” narrative as a step too far.

When the 2019 ban was announced, Hamidreza Taraghi, a hard-line politician, said in an interview with The New York Times that increasing numbers of people were complaining to the police about dogs.

“We are experiencing economic difficulties, but the dog lovers are spending billions of dollars each year for dog food,” he said. “We needthat money for more important things.”

But many Iranians love their pooches. Speaking of her ShihTzu terrier, Teddy,  Asal Bahrierad, a Tehran resident, said at the time, “No one, not even the police, can take him away from me.” She also said then that the ban was not being taken all that seriously. “The police are actually very friendly to us,” she said of her daily walks with Teddy.

Some even view walking a dog in public as a quiet rebellion against the Iranian government, which has long tried to enforce an Islamic lifestyle and restrict citizens’ civil liberties >>>