Owners of dogs who bite anybody in Oyo state risk a six-month jail term or N250,000 fine, says the Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday.
According to speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, who stated this while receiving award of excellence from the Veterinary Council of Nigeria over the Dogs Amendment Bill, 2019, the bill was among the seventy-three bills already passed by the 9th Oyo Assembly and assented to by Governor Seyi Makinde.
It would be recalled that the dogs Amendment Bill, 2019 sponsored by Hon. Wunmi Olajide was assented to by Governor Seyi Makinde of the state on the 22nd of September, 2020.
OyoEcho quoted Hon. Wunmi Oladeji, as saying that some of the provisions of the Law include a fine of N100,000 or six months imprisonment for both dog owner who fails to keep their dogs under control, and a fine of N250,000 or six months imprisonment for or both dog owners who fail to bear the total cost of medical expenses incurred by the victim of the attack.
She added said; “A fine of N200,000 or six months imprisonment or both for any dog owner who fails to vaccinate his/her dogs against communicable diseases hence we call on all the Stakeholders to sensitize members of the public on the provisions of the Amendment “
The President of the Council had earlier said the Dogs Amendment Law was imperative in order to control and reduce the transmission of communicable diseases like Parvovirus, Hepatitis, Leptoftirosis and Rabies especially from unvaccinated dogs.
AIG Aishatu Abubakar said the Veterinary Council of Nigeria could not thank the Oyo State House of Assembly enough as the Law will make all dog owners responsible for keeping their animals and preventing them from straying and attacking people.
