New rules will make it illegal to keep certain dangerous animals as pets while other creatures will be strictly regulated.

Animals such as crocodiles, large felines and poisonous snakes - among them Cobras and the small but deadly Mambas - will be banned outright under proposed legislation being drawn up, sources have told The Times.

It is not yet clear how other exotic animals such as constrictor snakes, which can be dangerous when they reach a certain size, will be regulated.

The Resources Ministry confirmed that it is preparing an amendment to the Animal Welfare Act which should address a lacuna in the law through which these animals are not properly regulated. At the moment, as long as the animals are not listed as endangered in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), they can be kept as pets.

The proposed law will be discussed in Parliament but stakeholders are expected to be consulted beforehand. The move comes after the Animal Welfare Department earlier this month discovered a three-month-old Bengal tiger, one of the world's endangered species of large felines, in an air-conditioned room on the roof of a warehouse in Mosta.

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