Agriculture Minister Assunção Cristas denied having approved a tough new law that was threatening to limit the number of pets that owners can have living with them in an apartment (see last week’s edition). The minister guaranteed the law was “not a priority”.
“It is important to clarify that no law has been approved or even discussed on a political level. This is a discussion that makes no sense at this time because it is not a priority for the government or for the Ministry of Agriculture. I did not even spend one minute looking at it (law) because I have many other priorities.”
The minister attempted to soothe the uproar that was caused among pet owners and animal associations by news reports regarding this issue on Wednesday, October 30.
If the law came into effect, the maximum number of dogs anyone would be able to have would be two, with four being the limit on cats.
