In response to pressure from animal rights activists, the Department of Environment is drafting regulations to help protect pets from abuse. “The bill will be ready in less than two months,” said Muhammad Darvish, director of the Public Participation Office at the DOE, according to IRNA. Activists have long been pressuring the department to up its game and protect household animals, compelling DOE chief Massoumeh Ebtekar to take action. Following correspondence between Ebtekar and First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, the department was given three months to prepare and submit the regulations to the government. “We have about a month and a half left,” Darvish said, adding that the DOE has formed a committee comprising environmental officials, animal rights activists and legal scholars to prepare the document. “We’ve asked everyone who has experience in this area to come forward and help us prepare the rules and regulations,” the official said, stressing that the DOE also intends to use the experiences of other countries in preparing the new set of rules.
