Don’t buy because you can
It’s good that exotic pets will be handed over to the authorities within a set deadline, but what about the people importing these animals (‘Exotic pet owners given 30 days to hand over animals,’ Gulf News, November 26)? As long as there are people importing, there will be buyers, especially people who are trying to show off. I was talking to a woman at an animal sanctuary - she and her staff have to deal with all kinds of animals because of ignorant people who want a ‘cute pet’. Who in their right mind would keep meerkats as pets? They have two baby ones at this animal sanctuary now. Seriously, just because you can get it, does not mean you should buy it. Get a goldfish!
From Ms Adrienne Barrie
UAE
Save exotic animals
Glad to hear this. I hope those who keep them make the right decisions and turn in their pets. The first thing should be to stop the sale and smuggling of such beautiful, and often endangered, animals.
From Mr Mohsin
Ankara, Turkey
Website comment
Creatures of God
I offer all my praises for such a great decision to save other creatures who are made by God and therefore deserve the same freedom to live that we enjoy. We never seem to understand.
From Mr Sachin
Dubai
Website comment
Be a good employer
Excellent news and about time that maid contracts in the GCC are unified (‘Unified GCC maid contract approved,’ Gulf News, November 26). If employers are worried about their maids running off, they need to do the right checks to ensure they are employing the right person for their family, including referencing and treating them like human beings! As employers, it’s their job to ensure the employee is happy, treated well and appreciated. That way they stay and do a good job.
From Ms Sam Clarke
Bridgend, UK
Facebook comment
Random checks
The thing with this new contract though, are we sure that the employers will follow those rules? Maybe the Ministry of Labour should conduct surprise visits once in a while to those who have nannies or maids in their houses. It would be good to check if the employer follows the new rules and to see if the employees are safe and in good hands.
From Mr Basty Alfonso
UAE
Facebook comment
Treatment and obligations
There are housemaids who take advantage of their employer’s generosity. Many of them run away even if they are treated really well. I totally agree with giving employees their rights and treating them as family members, but at the same time they should also fulfil their obligations towards their employer.
From Ms Sarah Nitu
Dubai
Facebook comment
Useful news source
Facebook is a great help for getting daily news and keeping me updated with what is happening around the world (‘Facebook ‘newspaper’ spells trouble for media?,’ Gulf News, November 26). Either the articles shared by various friends or they are shared through newsfeeds. Both are very useful in this regard.
From Mr Biju K.
Sharjah
Website comment
Remove biases
Religion and language have the ability to become either great unifiers or create great divide in a country like India (‘Letters to the editor: A diverse nation,’ Gulf News, November 26). It’s great to have Sanskrit as a language, why not also Persian or Urdu? After all, India’s latter-day culture is enmeshed with these languages. Why only Mahabharata and Ramayana? Why not the Bible and Quranic learnings? These have beautiful teachings. Why not also have Tamil for North India, Hindi for South India and Bengali for Gujarat and Marathi as extra languages?
Is it a coincidence that the government has not thought of these simple measures for eradicating linguistic and religious biases? Wake up India! We are being played. Let’s close ranks against hate mongering.
From Mr Smita Gaurav
UAE
A timely invitation
The invitation to US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Indian Republic Day by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was timely and wise. In the long run, it will help to improve the relationship between the two countries. It is timely because the relationship of the US with India had touched a rather low ebb recently, which indeed affected the balance of power in the Asian region and this paved the way to several unsavoury political developments. Well done Modi!
From Mr Thomas Matthew Parackel
Muvattupuzha, India
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