Apart from setting obligations, the draft imposes a number of restrictions. For example, children below 14 and adults in a state of intoxication will be forbidden to walk dogs weighing more than 15 kilos or those included in the register of dangerous breeds – such as American Staffordshire Terrier, Bull Terrier, Caucasian mountain dog, Rottweiler, Shar Pei, and 35 others.

In addition, the draft law forbids walking more than two dogs at once without a muzzle (if a dog is a dangerous breed) and a lead (all the breeds). The owner will not be allowed to walk pets near schools, hospitals, health centers, and kindergartens.

If a private owner refuses to keep a pet any longer, he has to pass the animal to another person or to the state. Euthanasia will be allowed only if an animal is terminally ill, poses a real danger or is too old.

The constantly growing number of stray dogs will be controlled through entrapment, keeping animals in kennels, sterilization, finding their first owners or giving them to the new ones.

Never-ending sources of controversy – dogs and cats living in basements and attics of apartment blocks – will be allowed to stay only if all the residents agree.

Moscow authorities also proposed to create a city register of cats and dogs which will include all the public and stray animals.

Privately-owned pets can also be listed if their owner requests listing. The city plans to provide such owners with a number of bonuses, including cheaper veterinarian service, free burial of animals, and informational support.

When the draft will be adopted still remains uncertain. Overall, the law has been under discussion for more than seven years. During this period, it was proposed to carry out a census of pets and even insert computer chips into all the domestic animals.

Even still, after the future law is drafted, animal rights activists believe much more work is needed to regulate the field.

“The law on the city level is not enough to effectively regulate this sphere,” Evgeny Ilyinsky, from the Animal Legal Defense Center, told RT. “Thus, we need a federal law and its would-be provisions are clear: that’s obligatory registration of all pets and taxation of animal owners.”

In total, there are 190,000 dogs and 60,000 cats in the Russian capital, as well as 30-50,000 stray dogs.