Friday, Apr 19, 2013
Dubai: Animals need more protection in the UAE, a group of animal rights activists said at a gathering of animal rights advocates yesterday, held near Safa Park at the site were a pregnant iguana was killed last month by a gang of youths and an adults.
Advocates tied ribbons in an assortment of colours to what’s become known in the neighbourhood as the iguana tree by residents who walk regularly around the perimetre of Safa Park.
The killing and mutilation of a docile iguana near Safa Park has outraged neighbours in the Jumeirah 1 area and prompted Dubai animal advocacy group Friends of Animals to request authorities to open an investigation.
Montserrat Martin, founder of Friends of Animals, said they lodged complaints with the police, Dubai Municipality, the office of Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police as well as the Ministry of Environment and Water.
There are laws in place, she said, such as Law No. 16 which includes legal provisions to protect animals in the UAE but, she said there needs to be more enforcement of the federal law.
“This is just another animal being killed here in a brutal way, this is a savage act,” said Martin.
She noted that this is more than simply about the brutal demise of a single iguana, but animal welfare in the UAE as a whole.
“There is a woman I know who goes between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and she sees between four and five abandoned animals - dogs and cats - stuck in the island in the middle of street; there are a large number of animals that are abandoned and abused.”
Martin added that if nothing is done, abandoned animals could become a real problem in the UAE.
“We are trying to get a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Environment and Water, not only for this issue but other animal related matters.”
The ministry has issued a public statement reiterating that there are public laws against cruelty to animals.
Since the killing, Martin said, Nad Al Sheba Veterinarian Clinic has been tying ribbons that carry messages of support for the iguana and animal rights from their visitors on the tree. The people gathered yesterday added more ribbons and voiced their concern about animals in the UAE.
The gathering was announced on Facebook and received around 4,000 views, but the actual turnout for the event drew only more than a dozen people.
Raghda Auttabashi, who came from Abu Dhabi and is part of Al Rahma Animal Welfare Society in Abu Dhabi, said that no one used to see those “abandoned animals because people used to kill them when they did not want them”.
She said that the plight of abandoned animals in the UAE is a continuing problem.
By Noorhan Barakat Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
