Chick Magnets

My kids know from first hand experience that puppies are natural "chick magnets." They all have "borrowed" Sammy at different times to exploit his cuteness and attract a crowd of admirers. Sammy seems to relish the attention and does his part effortlessly, I might add.

Well it seems as if this natural ability of puppies and kittens to attract the opposite sex has actually led to a ban on both selling dogs and cats as pets and walking them in public in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

According to an AP story in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the ban went into effect last week and "authorities in the city say they will strictly enforce it--unlike previous bans in the cities of Mecca and Jidda, which have been ignored and failed to stop pet sales."

Violators will have their pets confiscated by the "religious police," officially known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The problem, according to the Commission, is using pets to "make passes at women," ultimately leading to "mixing" of unmarried men and women. "The religious police prowl streets and malls throughout the kingdom, ensuring that unmarried men and women do not mix, confronting women who they feel are not properly covered, or urging men to go to prayers," says the author, Donna Abu-nasi.

It is not clear whether or not this ban will go the way of others like the now defunct 2004 ban on cameras on cell phones, which were feared because men and women might exchange photos. Some speculate that this latest prohibition is part of a continuing trend to ban any influences of Western culture, like fast food, jeans, pop music, that have become more and more prevalent in the kingdom. Keeping pets is just the latest Western trend to make its way to the Arab world, where it is becoming increasingly fashionable to own a pet, even though in Islamic tradition, dogs are believed to be unclean and dangerous.

For the sake of the cats and dogs, who, unlike cell phones, are living beings, lets hope the owners of these pets prevail.