*WARNING: This article may contain some distressing images*

TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK.

The topic of stray animals being mistreated in Dubai is taking over dinner table conversations more and more by the day AFTER Dubai-based property developers announced that an AED500 fine on residents who are caught feeding stray animals.

Property developers defended their decision to fine residents by stating that withholding food from stray animals will:

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• Improve the community’s aesthetics
• Eliminate bad odour
• Keep away pests, rodents and flying insects
• Help in stray population control
• Keep children safe

This particular decision opened up the floodgates and caused A NUMBER of animal-loving residents to object to this solution by the concerned authorities. Many even offered to personally spend money and to spay strays as a solution to the stray population dilemma.

A small army of dedicated animal activists around the city took to social media to highlight the success of the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) programmes as a way to solve the problem.

Despite this, pest control companies are being drafted by individuals & property developers to partake in unethical forms of animal relocation

Unlike animal shelters, pest control companies do not house strays, they ‘relocate’ them to other various unfamiliar parts of the city, where they are reportedly left without access to food and water.

Please note that this is NOT all private pest control companies but only a handful partake in wrongful animal relocation.

How ‘Cat Control’ works when individuals contact a private pest control company for their ‘cat control’ programme:

• The exterminators help set up a trap with food inside for the cat
• Many exterminators charge a reasonable price of around AED280+ (some charge up to AED920)
• Once the animal is trapped they suggest you contact a stray animal shelter or the Dubai Municipality Veterinary Section.
• If you do not wish the handle the stray once trapped, the company offers to ‘relocate’ the stray animal and initially gets the animal checked-up at the vet
• They relocate the animals in remote areas where strays are usually not seen as a nuisance e.g. “at some area in Jebel Ali or the Dubai International City side” as quoted by a Dubai-based pest control company

A number of residents have reported that once trapped, these animals are left inside cages for 12+ hours at a stretch without a morsel of food or water

Onlookers have further described that 2-3 cats had been stuffed in a cage that’s suitable for only one animal.

This kind of cruel entrapment was reported to us by residents from Arabian Ranches, JVT, JVC – residential areas, Al Barsha Park, Emirates Hills, The Springs and residents from the Al Furjan community.

‘Pet relocation’ has been called into question

I spoke to the local pest control companies to only hear vague responses as to where they exactly relocate these strays.

One pest control company asked me not to worry about where they are relocated as they will “definitely not return back to my neighbourhood once captured” and upon further questioning, they stated that the cats are taken to “some area in Jebel Ali or the Dubai International City side” where strays are apparently given food and water and not seen as a nuisance.

This is contrary to what many Dubai residents have been privy to.

A number of concerned residents claim that strays are in fact relocated to deserted areas with zero access to food or water.

Animals in these deserted and isolated areas get overly aggressive as a result of extreme hunger and attack weaker animals in a battle for life

ALSO READ: OPINION: Prohibiting & Fining Residents For Feeding Strays Is NOT The Solution To Anything!!

Residents have noted areas in Dubai have been wiped out of strays in a bid to improve community aesthetics and control the high volume of stray animals

Dubai residents have taken to social media, chat rooms and online review sites to express their worry over how fast strays are just vanishing from the streets overnight

Many animal enthusiasts spent a great deal out of their own pockets to care for and spay these cats, to ensure they don’t propagate. But now residents are reporting that the same cats that they spent a great deal on and have grown attached too have completely disappeared from the entire colony.

In this ‘stray control’ process many residents have also lost their pets and home cats.

So what’s happening is that people are also losing their pets and cats are turning up at industrial and dangerous areas where they weren’t before.

Individuals who care for strays and arrange foster homes do not have the budget to continue but there are many animal shelters who are trying to help

It’s worth being aware animal shelters across the country are working tirelessly to house homeless animals and if you would like to help, here’s a run-down of local shelters doing great things

• K9 Friends
• Stray Dogs Center
• Sharjah Cat & Dog Shelter
• RAK Animal Welfare Centre

Adopt don’t shop: Those abandoning their pets and leaving them behind are also very much to blame for the number of strays escalating rapidly in the city

• Abandoning pets
• Buying pets from pet stores and not adopting
• Breeding animals and leaving out UNWANTED litter of kittens and puppies to fend for themselves

These are just some MAJOR factors that have significantly contributed to the current stray issue.

However, the UAE government has taken note of this and are now taking legal action against owners who just DUMP their pets on the streets or simply abandon them. Owners who are caught abandoning their pets will now suffer legal consequences under regulations announced by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

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