Crackdown on vendors of Shatoosh and ivory items

Dubai: Dubai Municipality has tightened the noose on shops and trading houses selling items made from endangered animal species.

As part of the campaign, the municipality inspectors have confiscated some costly prayer beads (tasbih beads) and shawls, made of ivory and wool 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 Shatoosh shawls, are made from the wool of an endangered Tibetan antelope. The total cost of the three pieces of Shatoosh shawls was estimated at around Dh25,000 while the two dozen prayer beads made of ivory cost around Dh65,000.

"Dubai Municipality strictly monitors the local market in order to effectively enforce Cites through inspection visits to shops selling rare items as well as pet shops," said Salim Mesmar, Director of Public Health Department at the municipality.

Pet shops

He warned that the municipality inspectors would confiscate all types of skins, organs and any products made of endangered animal species as well as rare and endangered plants, whether they are in the shop, under individual possession or are being imported.

He also warned the shops dealing in pets. "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, hygienic and healthy environment. Also, the shop-owners will have to fill up a Cites Inspection Card prepared by the veterinary services section and send it to us," he explained.

Mesmar said that strict steps would help the section keep a record of all kinds of pet animals and birds being sold in the local market, as well as their ports of entry and from where they are being imported.

"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.