IRAN In 2010, Iran banned the ownership of canines outright. "Friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West," said Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi. And while he acknowledged that the Quran doesn't prohibit keeping such pets outright, he went on to say, "We have lots of narrations in Islam that say dogs are unclean."
But pragmatism might be winning out over the desire to stamp out Western influences in Iran. In 1999, after France donated a team of five of canines for border-control tasks, Iranian clerics issued a fatwa permitting the use of drug-sniffing dogs. As opium production in neighboring Afghanistan has ramped up, Iran's canine forces have since grown to approximately 100 dogs. From March 2010 to March 2011, 33 tons of drugs were sniffed out by canines and seized.
Even President Ahmadinejad has high-priced, bomb-sniffing dogs on his security team, a measure of protection that has ruffled more than a few feathers. The dogs, which came from Germany and reportedly cost $150,000, brought domestic criticism. One hard-line website said their presence "contradicted the president's image as a ‘simple-life, justice-seeking, anti-luxury' leader."
Above, Iranian policeman sit with their sniffer dogs during a ceremony marking International Anti-Drugs Day in Tehran on June 26, 2009.
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