Sri Lanka, Oct. 24 -- A government minister and a deputy minister have presented conflicting figures in Parliament regarding Sri Lanka's total dog population.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday (23), Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne said the country's current dog population stands at nearly 3.2 million.

According to his estimate, there is approximately one dog for every seven people in Sri Lanka. He described this as a very high figure.

The Deputy Minister noted that a system for registering dogs already exists and that a fee applies to the process.

He explained that each dog should be formally registered, with the owner receiving a collar, an identification tag and a booklet containing information about the animal. He added that a reg...