PANAJI
The law to prohibit the domestication (keeping as pets) of ferocious breeds of dogs and breeding them was passed by the Goa legislative assembly on Wednesday by a 31 to 6 vote count.
Piloted by Animal Husbandry Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar, it empowers the government to notify any breed or class of animals as “ferocious” and seeks to provide a regulation for the breeding and domestication of animals and all related matters.
Under the law, the government will designate a competent authority and also frame rules for specifying the form for providing information and details of existing ownership of such ferocious breeds as may be notified.
The Goa Animal Breeding and Domestication (Regulation and Compensation) Bill, 2025, which was passed, also has penal provisions against violators, including simple imprisonment which may extend to three months and community service.
Another provision in it provides for compensation to the legal heirs of those who die from attacks by such animal breeds as may be notified as ferocious.
Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares-Ferreira had brought it to notice that central regulations in this regard already exist under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals law.
Ferreira claimed that the legislation may not pass the test, but Chief Minister Pramod Sawant insisted that all related regulations were vetted before drafting the law, that it does not overlap with the central law, and sought that the Speaker put it to the vote.
When the Opposition sought a division, the Speaker counted 31 in favour of the bill’s passing and six against, with one Opposition legislator -- Altone D’Costa -- absent from the House.
