03/06/06 Proposal to Regulate the Transportation of Animals in the Public Transportation
Republic of Croatia
City of Zagreb
Department for Urban Planning, Environment Protection, Urban development, Architecture, Municipal Affairs and Urban Traffic
Office for Urban Traffic and Road System
Traffic Sector
Office for Public Transportation
SUBJECT: Animal Friends' proposal to regulate the transportation of animals in the vehicles of public transportation on the account of the amendment to the Act on Public Transportation of Passengers in the City of Zagreb
Article 36 of the current Act on Public Transportation of Passengers in the City of Zagreb currently runs as follows:
Persons with impaired vision are permitted to enter the vehicle with a specially trained dog wearing a muzzle. On Saturdays and Sundays, days before public holidays, and public holidays, it is permitted to enter the vehicle with one dog in the period from 0:00-6:00 A.M. and from 8:00-12:00 P.M. The dog should be registered with the kinological association; it should wear a muzzle and be on a short leash.
According to our proposal, the modified version would run as follows:
1) Passengers are permitted to enter the vehicles of public transportation with their animals, as long as the animals are kept in specially designed carriers.
2) Passengers are permitted to enter the vehicles of public transportation with their dogs, regardless to item 1, with the exception of dangerous dogs, under the condition that the dog wears a muzzle and is on a short leash.
Explanation:
The item 1 accounts for all the animals (dogs, cats, rabbits...) that fit in a carrier, and our opinion is no other provisions are needed since the carriers, regardless of the animal they are carrying, ensure the safety for all passengers.
The item 2 regulates the transportation of dogs, under the condition that the dogs are led on a short leash, wearing a muzzle, and the dangerous dogs specified by the Dangerous Dogs Ordinance (The Official Gazette, 19/99) not being allowed to enter vehicles of public transportation under any condition. We consider the days in a week and hour restriction unnecessary since the considerate owner would avoid rush hours for his dog's sake. It is also very difficult to precisely determine what time and what lines would the rush hour include, since it varies according to weather conditions or seasons (summer months), and also violates the passenger's right to carry dogs in the vehicles of public transportation. Possession of a kinological association license also seems poorly justified since a minute percentage of dog owners actually own one and it is not right to force the citizens to be members of any association in order to ride with the public transportation.