Law 19.25 on stray animals

In force since 10 August 2026

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Morocco has adopted law no. 19.25 on the protection and care of stray animals and the prevention of their dangers. It was published in Official Bulletin no. 7533 of 10 August 2026 and it already applies.

This page sets out what the law permits and what it prohibits, because many people who feed street cats do not yet know that a text exists. Further down, it also explains what HelPets changed in the app.

What the law calls a stray animal

Article 2 defines a stray as any animal found, for any reason whatsoever, in a public space, permanently or temporarily, without the supervision and control of its owner or keeper.

That word “temporarily” has a consequence most people miss: a pet that escapes is legally a stray for as long as it is outside unsupervised. Someone who takes it into their home therefore falls within the scope of article 5, even though their intention is to protect it.

The point stops there, though. Article 44 penalises caring for a stray animal only in a public space, and it is the only penalty in the entire chapter that refers back to article 5. Taking a found animal into your own home therefore falls outside article 44: no fine attaches to it.

Article 3 states the opposite, protective principle: stray animals must be protected from serious or contagious disease and from any danger, in particular unjustified killing, torture, violence and mistreatment.

Reporting remains lawful

This is the most important point and the least reported one. Article 4 expressly permits reporting a stray animal, by any available means, and the text itself provides for an electronic platform for that purpose.

Reporting is therefore not merely tolerated: it is provided for by the law. What is punished is the personal intervention that follows.

What is now prohibited

Article 5 provides that no one may take charge of a stray animal, by sheltering it, feeding it or treating it, outside the framework laid down by the law and its implementing texts.

Article 44 punishes this, when committed in a public space, with a fine of 500 to 2,000 dirhams. That covers feeding a stray cat or dog in the street, in the common areas of a building, or in any place open to the public.

Conversely, article 36 protects the animal: deliberately killing, torturing or mistreating a stray animal is punishable by two to six months in prison and a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 dirhams.

Two further prohibitions concern your own animal, not only strays. Article 45 imposes a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams for deliberately causing an animal to stray or abandoning it in a public space. It is the heaviest penalty bearing directly on someone who can no longer keep their animal.

Article 38 imposes a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 dirhams for deliberately exposing an animal to danger, contrary to the first paragraph of article 7. That paragraph requires an owner to protect their animal from danger, to prevent disease, and to keep it from ending up unsupervised in a public space. It refers to no implementing text, so it already applies, unlike the declaration duties described below.

Article 37 imposes one to three months in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 35,000 dirhams for obstructing the work of a control committee or of a care centre in the exercise of its duties. It is the largest fine an individual can face under this law, larger than article 36’s, and it carries a prison term as well. Since collecting stray animals is one of a centre’s duties, physically opposing a team carrying out a collection would fall under it.

In practice, however, there is nothing to obstruct today. The control committees of articles 24 and 25 await the regulatory text that must set their composition, and the centres of article 18 await the model terms of reference. Neither exists yet. Article 37 is therefore in force but has no object until those texts are published.

On a repeat offence within five years, article 50 doubles all of these penalties. Article 35 adds that they do not exclude heavier penalties provided for by other legislation.

The framework the law provides for

The care of stray animals falls to approved centres, created within communal hygiene offices or authorised by the commune. Article 13 gives them responsibility for collection, veterinary examination, vaccination, control of breeding and identification of animals.

Four points are worth knowing, because they are often reported backwards:

• Article 13, 9° provides for returning the animal to the environment it lived in, after sterilisation, vaccination and identification. That is trap-neuter-return in all but name, even though the text does not call it that.
• Article 13, 10° organises handing an animal the centre is housing to a person who wishes to care for it or to benefit from it, for payment or free of charge, after verifying they are able to take it on. That is the lawful route to adopting a stray.
• Article 16 allows communes to enter into agreements with civil society associations to carry out some of these duties. Volunteering is not excluded: it is given a framework.
• Article 13, 8° permits euthanasia, under the supervision of a veterinarian, where the animal cannot be cured or represents a danger. Article 36 expressly states that it does not apply to euthanasia carried out in accordance with the law.

If you have an animal

• Giving your animal to someone remains possible. Article 9 requires the transfer of ownership to be declared within twenty-four hours.
• Giving up your animal can no longer be done any way you like. Article 12 requires it to be handed to an approved centre, against a receipt.
• If your lost animal is deposited at a centre, article 11 gives you ten days to collect it, at your expense. After that it is considered abandoned. That is why a lost-pet post is worth publishing quickly.

The obligations that do not apply yet

Chapter 2 requires an owner to declare their animal, have it identified, keep a health record, report a loss and update the declared data. These obligations depend on implementing texts that have not been published: there is today neither a national register nor a declaration platform. Article 55 allows two years for them to be issued.

The matching fines are therefore also dormant. They are given here because they will apply on the day those texts appear: 1,000 to 5,000 dirhams for failing to declare an animal or hold a health record (article 42); 5,000 to 10,000 for failing to declare a loss (article 46); 5,000 to 15,000 for not taking the required measures on death or serious illness (article 47); and 1,000 to 10,000 for not updating the declared data, not depositing the animal with a centre when giving it up, or not having it carry its identification number (article 49).

Powers of inspection

Article 32 allows authorised officers to enter any premises, public or private, to inspect them, to inspect means of transport, and to seize animals that are the subject of an offence. Article 33 provides that seized animals may be kept in a centre at the offender’s expense.

Article 51 further allows local administrative authorities to intervene, exceptionally, to put an end to the danger posed by stray animals where it threatens public order and safety.

Three wrong figures in circulation

Several press articles repeat values taken from an earlier version of the bill. The text published in the Official Bulletin is what counts.

• The fine under article 44 is 500 to 2,000 dirhams, not 1,500 to 3,000.
• The penalty under article 36 is two to six months, not two months to a year.
• It is often claimed that the law ignores trap-neuter-return. That is inaccurate: article 13, 9° provides for it.

What HelPets changed

HelPets is a reporting and matching app. Since reporting is lawful under article 4, the SOS feature remains available. The app must not, however, invite anyone to intervene with a stray animal themselves. Two changes follow from that:

• The exact position is no longer published. An SOS post now shows only an approximate area. Publishing the precise position of a vulnerable animal, when article 36 punishes mistreating one, was no longer defensible.
• The “Offer Help” button has become “I have information”. Exchanging information remains useful and lawful; physical intervention is not.

What HelPets is not

HelPets is not a shelter, an accredited association, a veterinary service or a public authority, and it does not substitute for any of them. The app allows reporting and putting people in touch. It grants no accreditation and takes charge of no animal.

Sources

Law no. 19.25 on the protection of stray animals, their care and the prevention of their dangers, promulgated by dahir no. 1.26.55 of 13 safar 1448 (28 July 2026), published in Official Bulletin no. 7533 of 26 safar 1448 (10 August 2026), pages 5128 to 5134. The Arabic text published in the Official Bulletin is the authoritative one; this page is a translation for information.

This page is provided as general information and does not constitute legal advice. If you are unsure about a particular situation, consult a lawyer.