Getting serious

Saudi Arabia’s religious police have announced a ban on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said on Wednesday.

…Othman said that the commission has instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs".

Here is the full story.  This is, of course, a net benefit for the offenders to date.  The newly created artificial scarcity increases the conversation value of the already owned animals and also confers a positive wealth effect on the wrongdoers.  Is it not better to stop xxxx by giving everyone a pet and thus eliminating its conversational value?  By the way, if this edict is enforced, we can expect an increase in the pet birth rate and also a greater number of abandoned pets.

The final question, of course, is how do you use a pet cat to make a pass at a woman?  I’ve heard of people walking their cats, but I expect it is not an easy experience.  To limit sex, cats should be subsidized, not taxed.  No?