The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has issued a number of penalties against violators of the two regulations on animal resources and kindness to animals. They were fined a total of SR1,729,000, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said Saturday. The ministry said that the most prominent of these fines involved not implementing the Saudi standards and specifications on local animal products, selling animal products that were not safe for human consumption, transporting animals between regions without obtaining health certificates as is usually required, violations related to licenses, health violations in those facilities and harming animals by not providing them the suitable environment. The ministry further said that the violations occurred in several regions, Makkah Province topping the list with 16 violations, followed by Riyadh Province with 7, Tabuk Province with two violations and one violation each in Jazan, Asir, Madinah and Hail regions. The ministry praised the veterinary supervisors in the ministry's branches and offices in different regions of the Kingdom. It expressed thanks and appreciation to all who cooperated with the ministry by reporting violations, especially cruelty to animals. In this connection, the ministry has called upon all owners of projects and those running them to cooperate with the ministry's supervisors and comply with the regulations and directives issued by the ministry. These regulations aim to organize animal resources projects, protect the society from their hazards and enhance the values of kindness to animals and attach great importance to their rights in the Kingdom. The ministry has stressed that it will not hesitate to impose the penalties stated in the above-mentioned regulations on any person proved to have committed any violations, calling on all to report any violations via the toll free number 8002470000. — SPA
