In Belarus, a long-awaited law on responsible pet ownership, championed by animal rights activists for years, has finally come into effect. On February 19, 2025, during a segment on ONT, host Marina Karaman criticized dog owners for the shortage of dog parks, pointing out that many fail to register their pets or pay the required tax.
"Local authorities only set up dog parks if there are registered dogs in the area. If owners don't register their pets, then officially, there are no dogs in the community. And that means there's no need for dog parks. Here's a real-life example: in 2020, only two dogs were registered in the entire Osipovichi district, including Osipovichi itself. Ask yourself a few questions. First: Is it worth building several dog parks with taxpayer money for just two dogs? Second: Were there really only two dogs in the Osipovichi district, or were there thousands that just weren't registered? Third: If almost no dogs were registered, their owners did not pay pet taxes. So, who should have funded the construction of these parks?" the host pondered.
In April 2014, there were 143 registered pet dogs in the city of Osipovichi alone. Four years later, the number had nearly doubled to 262. And by 2024, there were officially 745 dogs in the city.
The WTF team couldn't find data on the number of registered dogs in 2020. However, in the Osipovichi Council's report on the expenditure and revenue of the local budget for that year, the "dog ownership tax" line shows an amount of 6,840 rubles. At that time, the dog ownership tax, paid quarterly, was 40.5 rubles for a pet of a potentially dangerous breed and 8.1 rubles for all other dogs. That gives us a rough estimation of the amount of paying dog owners. In the first hypothetical scenario—if there were no potentially dangerous breeds in Osipovichi and the district—that total amount would have covered tax payments for 210 dogs. In the reverse scenario—if only fighting breeds were registered—the tax amount would have covered 42 pets.
Considering past statistics, the number of registered dogs is likely closer to 200 than to 2. There could have been even more registered dogs, as some citizens are exempt from paying the tax but are still required to officially register their pets. For example, if a private home has only one dog, the owner is exempt from paying the tax. However, dog registration is still mandated.
The dog ownership tax doesn't necessarily go towards building dog parks—it doesn't have a specific allocation. Local authorities decide how to spend these funds: for example, on maintaining shelters for homeless animals, setting up dog parks, or on repairing buildings, improving recreational areas, or children's playgrounds. Officials themselves have mentioned this multiple times. Additionally, in recent years, despite the pet tax collected, dog owners have been encouraged to independently fund the construction of dog parks. In 2020, four dog parks were approved in Osipovichi.
