Dubai: The fate of two lion cubs brought to the UAE for a ‘phantom' circus hangs in the balance.
A thin paper-trail has not offered any clues as to where the lions are supposed to be performing and authorities are keeping quiet on a situation they say is, "under control".
On Tuesday Gulf News revealed how an Egyptian man had imported six lions and a tiger to the UAE, of which two are five-month old cubs, to perform in a "circus in Abu Dhabi" and tried to sell them for Dh35,000 each.
While the cubs are unable to even walk due to a debilitating calcium deficiency, the only scheduled circus due to take place in the capital, the European- Russian-Egyptian Circus, has denied any knowledge or working partnership with Mamdouh Al Helou, the Egyptian salesman-cum-lion trainer.
Meanwhile, the import permit Al Helou is brandishing to confirm the legality of his import, acquired by Gulf News states the importer as Freij Entertainment International, who opened the Freij Circus in 2009 for the summer festival in Abu Dhabi.
Freij Al Zein, chief executive officer of Freij Entertainment International, said in a statement that his company has a "clean record", and confirmed Al Helou has been hired for a circus planned to take place in Abu Dhabi. No dates were given.
"Our historical record shows that we are specialised in performance shows never selling neither buying animals…We know well the international law of CITES, and we abide to all the rules. We know well that [it] is not allowed and prohibited to sell these kind of animals and even [if] it is permitted we are not specialised for selling or buying. We are not a trade company, we are an entertainment company as pointed by our company name."
The statement goes on to say Freij Entertainment International is preparing for a circus which will be held in "a couple weeks in Abu Dhabi with the trainer Mr Mouhamed Al Helou," and that the lion cubs were taken to a veterinary clinic two weeks ago.
"We took the two said animals to the veterinary to help them to recover from a little sickness but not for sale as mentioned. We take always special care for the animal which we [bring] for the show until be back in good conditions."
In a video available on www.gulfnews.com/gntv, a cub can be seen struggling to lift his body off the ground or move his paws. Al Helou told reporter posing as buyers that the cubs did suffer from a calcium deficiency. He later said the cubs were in perfect health when interviewed officially.
According to the federal law on animal welfare 16 of 2007, vets and animal clinics are obliged to report any animal mistreatment.
Al Zein's statement added that Freij Entertainment specialises in ‘mobile', carnival rides.
"Freij Entertainment owns circus tents, as we could provide a wide range of circus animal acts which we hire from many countries to promote the circus programmes and activities."
Welfare: Fighting for protection
Jason Mier, Executive Director of Animals Lebanon, is fighting to protect animal rights in Lebanon where there are no laws on animal welfare. He believes no circus can match the needs ‘wild' animals need and more should be done to protect them.
"Much of the world is recognising the inherent abuse that occurs in circuses, countries are highly regulating the use of animals, and in some cases banning outright the use of all animals. The conditions offered by even the ‘best' circuses can not meet the needs of these types of animals. It is very sad and frustrating that there are currently at least four different circuses travelling around the Middle East," he said.
"To know that the circus entered UAE and offered a cub for sale just illustrates that things don't really ever change. Fifteen years ago Egyptian circuses were buying and selling animals in Africa, and today an Egyptian circus is in UAE offering up lions for sale. Unfortunately this is just one small example of the problems faced by endangered animals."
