Tuesday, Feb 03, 2009
Gulf News
Dubai: The emirate's long-suffering animals face another summer in the city's zoo.
Construction work on a new 'super-zoo' in Dubailand has been put on hold again, officials at Dubai Municipality told Gulf News.
Plans for the new facility have been shrouded in mystery for several years and work on the site at Dubailand has already been postponed on several occasions. The project has been put on hold again but officials declined to speculate on the exact reasons behind the decision. It is now yet unknown when work will resume on the project.
Transfers to other zoos
Dr Alsayed Ahmad, Programme Director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said the authorities might have to look at transferring animals out of the zoo to other countries in the Gulf until the new facility is completed.
He said: "We are sorry to hear this [about the delay] because we know the animals are not comfortable at Dubai Zoo. Their welfare is a matter of concern because there is overcrowding in cages and many different species are being kept together. Furthermore, the zoo is located in an area that houses humans and the people living in that area [Jumeirah] are not happy at the location of the zoo.
"We hope another solution can be found. Maybe we have to look at transferring some of the animals out of the UAE and into other zoos in the Gulf region until a new facility is ready in Dubai. IFAW does not support the concept of zoos; we don't like to see animals being kept in cages at all. A new zoo at Dubailand might improve the current situation but not as much as we would like."
There are over 1,100 animals at the current zoo on Jumeirah Beach Road. An ambitious plan to relocate the zoo to a new location in Mushrif Park near Mirdif was abandoned in 2003.
Delays
In November 2005, the civic body announced plans to build a Dh200 million zoo at a new location close to Mushrif Park but that plan, which had a completion date of 2008, was also shelved.
The new facility at Dubailand was to be built on an area of 350 hectares.
A landmark
Dubai Zoo was originally built in 1967 by a Dubai resident in Jumeirah on a two hectare plot and is still the oldest zoo in the Arabian Peninsula. It was considered a Dubai landmark in the late 1960s as it indicated the "town's end".
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