Residents of Kalba have urged authorities to speed up the establishment of a new abattoir to replace the old and unhealthy slaughterhouse situated at the entrance of the city.
While waiting for the new hygienic abattoir to be built close to the Kalba livestock market, residents have to get their cattle slaughtered at the existing abattoir, which does not meet hygiene standards. The present one was built as a shed on a plot of land of around 120 square metres, on a sandy road that produces clouds of dust and dirt whenever vehicles enter the area.
Ali Ahmed Sultan, a UAE national from Kalba, buys his sheep and goats from the nearby Kalba livestock market and brings them to the abattoir for slaughtering.
"We have to come here to have our sheep slaughtered in this unhygenic abattoir. I realise it is dirty and in an unhealthy condition, but it would be better than slaughtering our sheep in our backyards," said Sultan while waiting in the queue.
He added that most people are obliged to come here, while others prefer to use the nearby Fujairah Abattoir.
The butchers at the Kalba abattoir do not dress in special uniforms or jackets made for the job. They even use unsterilised knives and cut the meat on the ground, as there are no wooden tables or any other equipment.
Their clothes and their feet are splattered with blood from the animals they slaughter, while hoards of flies and other insects fill the shed and stick to the carcasses. The internal organs of the slaughtered animals are put into rusty barrels, while the sheep's skins are left in a corner of the shed.
Abdullah Ali, another national from Kalba, said: "There are no veterinarians at this slaughterhouse to check the animals before and after being slaughtered, so we depend on our experience in examining the sheep with our hands before buying them to know if they are suffering from any disease. The whole abattoir is unhygienic. There are no administrative offices or laboratories."
Another resident said that he had stopped using the services of the present Kalba abattoir because it was so dirty. He said he asks a good butcher to come to his house to do the slaughtering for him.
Meanwhile, the prices of sheep, cows and goats at the Kalba livestock market have increased slightly during Eid celebrations of Al Adha.
Gulf News 2003
