Sri Lanka moves to make dog registration mandatory

Sri Lanka is moving to make annual registration compulsory for every dog, while introducing new rules on rabies vaccination, stray dog sterilisation and commercial dog breeding.

The Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government has gazetted a draft Bill proposing the new legal framework.

Under the proposed law, the owner of any dog over six weeks of age, or a person keeping such a dog in their custody, will be required to have the dog vaccinated against rabies and register it annually with the relevant local authority.

Once a certificate confirming the rabies vaccination is issued, the dog must be registered after paying the prescribed registration fee. The local authority will then issue a registration certificate for the dog.

The draft Bill states that anyone who fails to register a dog will have to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000 in addition to the registration fee.

It also requires local authorities to take steps, when appropriate, to sterilise stray dogs within their areas in an effort to control the dog population.

The proposed legislation also introduces licensing requirements for commercial dog breeding.

Anyone operating a dog breeding centre will be required to obtain a licence, while puppies will not be allowed to be sold without the required licence.

The main objectives of the draft Bill are to strengthen rabies prevention, control the dog population, ensure annual registration of dogs and regulate commercial dog breeding in Sri Lanka.