Dubai, 20 August 2007: Dubai Municipality inspectors have confiscated some costly prayer beads (tasbih bead) and female and male head-dress, made of ivories and wools of animals that face extinction. Their trade is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to which UAE is a signatory.
The confiscated head dress, known as Shatoosh shawls, was made from the wool of an endangered Tibetan antelope and usually worn by the rich. The total cost of the confiscated three pieces of head dress was estimated at nearly Dhs 25,000 while the two dozen prayer beads cost around Dhs65,000.
Dubai Municipality maintains a strict monitoring in the local market in order to effectively enforce the CITES through inspection visits to shops selling rare items as well as pet shops.
Salim Mesmar, Director of Public Health Department at the municipality, said: "Pet shops should be properly licensed by the competent authorities and keep all required documents ready for verification. Besides, during the visit, we make sure that the animals and birds are kept in a sound, hygiene and healthy environment. Furthermore, the shop-owners will have to fill up a CITES Inspection Card prepared by the veterinary services section and send it to us."
He noted that these measures would help the section keep a record of all types of pet animals and birds that are being sold in the local market, as well as their ports of entry and from where they are being imported. In case any communicable disease is reported, the section can easily take appropriate measures thanks to these reports, he said.
"Roughly 5,000 species of animals and 30,000 species of plants are protected by the convention against over-exploitation through international trade. Though it is quite difficult to identify all the banned species in the local market, the CITES Inspection Card will make the inspectors' job easier in detecting whether any of the banned species are sold in the local market," Mesmar said.
The section, in co-operation with other authorities such as the Department of Ports and Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries confiscated over the past three years over 300 illegal products.
Mesmar said that people indulging in trade of such items were driven by a greed of quick money, and forget the impact of their actions on environment and endangered species of animals. He warned that the municipality inspectors would confiscate all types of skins, organs and any products made of endangered species as well as rare and endangered plants, whether they are in shop, under individual possession or are being imported.
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© Press Release 2007
