Bill to be tabled in Assembly; aims to regulate ferocious dog breeding with focus on public safety and animal welfare
PANAJI
Finally, after much debate and delay, a law to govern domestication and breeding of animals which will also ban certain ferocious breeds of dogs is expected to see the light of day during the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly slated to begin on July 21.
On Wednesday, the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant-led cabinet approved the bill – The Animal Breeding and Domestication Bill, 2025.
Sawant who briefed the media after chairing the cabinet meeting announced that the bill will also have a provision which will ban the import, sale and breeding of ferocious dog breeds, for starters Pitbulls and Rottweilers.
He said the legislation will aim to regulate breeding and domestication of animals in the State with the focus on both public safety as well as animal welfare.
“The bill will be introduced and passed in the Assembly during the monsoon session. It provides for a ban on Pitbulls and Rottweilers,” Sawant said.
The Sawant government has faced flak for procrastinating on the policy front related to aggressive dog breeds in the face of several incidents over the last couple of years where humans have been attacked, including fatally on a couple of occasions. Once passed, the law will empower government authorities to act and impose penalties on owners of such ferocious breeds in cases where people face danger from them in public spaces.
Several months ago an incident in Assagao had a middle-aged man seriously injured after an attack by a pet Rottweiler. The incident prompted the Assagao panchayat to issue an advisory in which it warned owners of pet dogs of the Pitbull and Rottweiler breeds not to let them free in public areas.
In another incident which occurred in the neighbouring village of Anjuna in August last year, a seven-year-old boy died after a dog attack. The child who had accompanied his mother to a home where she worked as a domestic help, was attacked by the pet Pitbull which bit him severally on his neck.
Govt to create separate Inland Waterways Dept delinking from Captain of Ports
PANAJI: The Goa cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to create a separate, independent department by removing the River Navigation Department (RND) from the jurisdiction of the Captain of Ports (CoP) with the 'Inland Waterways Department' nomenclature.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the department will henceforth function independently from the CoP and have a separate head of department.
