News
MOA planning new rules for pets
The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is planning to expand the list of prohibited animals for importation aiming to balance public safety and animal welfare.
It convened a meeting with various stakeholders last week to collect opinions. According to the updated list, 22 categories are designated as prohibited for importation or keeping, including spectacled caimans, all species of armadillos, beavers, and the family of Canidae (excluding domestic dogs). In addition, eight species are prohibited from being kept, including raccoons and all species of alligator snapping turtles.
As part of its efforts to manage pets, the Ministry is developing a tiered classification system for domestic pets. It has completed evaluations of more than 1,500 species and will classify them based on their characteristics into blacklists, which means prohibited, grey lists, that's conditional keeping allowed, and white lists for general pet management.
Regarding current pet owners, the Ministry says owners who register their pets can continue to keep them, ensuring the rights of existing owners are not affected.
Specific venues, such as zoos and exhibition sites, will also be allowed to continue keeping these animals.
