Proposed Law Would See Dangerous Dogs in Jail
If a proposed law passes the vote of the Legislators, aggressive dogs like Rottweilers, Dobermans and Pitbulls can end up behind bars and their owners paying a whopping fine equal to three base salaries (approximately ¢434.000 colones (us$842).

The proposed law will require that incidents be reported and authorities can adopt preventive detention measures (jail) against the canine if deemed necessary.

The law is being spearheaded by the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) deputy, Clara Zomer, who is looking to bring calm to residents who are terrorized by dangerous dogs who have been the scene of attacks and in some cases caused death.

"The law defined what is a potentially dangerous animal and the precautions the owner of the animal needs to take so that they will cause injury to residents and includes the prohibition of training the animals to be aggressive, including cross breeding to that effect", said Zomer.

The law does not list specifically which animals are dangerous and is not just geared towards dogs, it wil include, for example, snakes and crocodiles that people keep as pets.

Without saying, canines belonging to the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública and other police agencies are exempt from the proposed regulations.

The law pretends to define dangerous animals as those that have the capacity to cause injury or death to persons or other animals, and includes pets and animals in the wild.

The proposed law would force owners of dangerous animals to obtain a license to be given out by the Ministerio de Agricultura (MAG). The owners of these animals must be 18 or over and not have a criminal record and will have to have an insurance policy for any damages caused to third parties. The license will also be necessary to import, breed, sell or donate dangerous animals.

The animals must also be registered within the system created by the law, that would classify the breeds and include characteristics of the animal and where they are kept.

The sanctions contained in the proposed law include fines of ¢72.000 colones (us$140) for not complying with the measures of the law; ¢434.000 colones (us$842) for not keeping the animal on a leash or roaming freely; ¢724.000 (us$1.405) for abandoning a dangerous animal or selling a potentially dangerous animal without a license or training an animal to be aggressive.

The law will give authorities the discretion to decide if an incident involving a dangerous animal is to be treated as a crime or "contravención" (violation), which can then lock up the animal until a judge decides otherwise.