The dog tax story is a lie

The Veterinary and Animal Welfare Alliance states that the new Rabies Control and Dog Registration Act does not impose any new "dog tax" and there are no provisions to imprison individuals who feed stray dogs. Addressing a press conference, Dr. Chamith Nanayakkara, an executive member of the alliance, stated that the public has been unnecessarily alarmed due to false information being spread through social media.

He pointed out that dog registration through local government authorities is already a process that occurs for a small fee and is not something new introduced by this act. Currently, a fee of Rs. 100 is charged for this in the Colombo Municipal Council area and Rs. 300 in the Anuradhapura area. To prevent the inconvenience of people having to leave their jobs and visit local government institutions, plans have been made to carry out these registrations along with free rabies vaccination programs implemented at the village level.

Dr. Nanayakkara further clarified that merely feeding a stray dog once or occasionally does not make that person the legal owner of the animal. However, if a person consistently feeds an animal and maintains a relationship with it, then that individual has a social responsibility to care for the dog, including providing necessary rabies vaccinations.

The responsibility for genuine stray dogs without any guardian continues to rest with local government authorities. Organizing their vaccination and sterilization activities is the role of these institutions, and stronger legal provisions against the arbitrary killing of dogs have also been introduced through this new act.