Abu Dhabi: The number of abandoned pets in Abu Dhabi emirate has gone down in the past four years, a senior official told Gulf News.
Relaxed regulations on exporting pets to foreign countries and an animal shelter established by the Abu Dhabi Government have contributed to this positive trend, said Dr Margit Gabriele Muller, Director of Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, which is managed by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi. The hospital houses the Abu Dhabi Animal Shelter that takes care of abandoned animals, and Pet Care Centre shelters pets during the vacations.
“We have been receiving stray and abandoned pets from all over Abu Dhabi emirate since 2010 and can clearly see a difference. At least now, pet owners surrender their pets to our shelter instead of abandoning them in the streets,” she said.
Strict regulations on exporting pets to foreign countries was a reason for abandoning pets in the past. “However, regulations are easier now and pet owners can take their pet with them to most countries,” Dr Muller said.
Lack of a shelter to keep the pets during the summer vacation of owners was another reason for abandoning pets.
“Therefore, the Pet Care Centre of the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital has opened extensive, competitively priced boarding facilities for cats, dogs, birds and other small pets in order to provide support and help pet owners leave their pets there when they holiday.”
COMPASSION TOWARDS PETS
Only awareness and education, said Dr Muller, will make people more compassionate about pets.
Therefore, Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital and its Abu Dhabi Animal Shelter promote animal welfare education through visits to schools, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec). “Those school visits let children interact with cats and dogs and we teach them how to handle pets properly and their welfare requirements. Moreover, we also educate them on animal abuse to foster their compassion towards animals,” she said.
Children made aware of compassion towards animals will in future greatly help avoid animal abuse and spread their animal welfare knowledge among their families and friends, Dr Muller believes.
BIGGEST PROBLEM FOR PETS
One of the biggest problems for pets in the UAE, especially for dogs, is the lack of public places to walk them walk off-leash (which is required to foster healthy behaviour in dogs), Dr Muller said.
Due to this, dog owners do not know where to walk their dogs. This contributes to the trend of abandoning dogs.
The hostile attitude of property owners towards pets is another problem, according to her. Landlords should not be so restrictive regarding prohibiting pets in flats or villas, she said.
Children growing up with pets learn responsible behaviour and good social attitude. Therefore, families should be given the opportunity to have pets. Cats and small dogs kept in flats do not generally disturb neighbours. Plus, pets greatly enhance children’s development.
On the issue of pet shops, Dr Muller said stricter controls are required to monitor pet shops because pets are often kept overcrowded in unhygienic and unsuitable conditions. Several pets are sold underage and sometimes with improper vaccinations. Therefore, the incidence of infectious diseases like parvovirosis or canine distemper is higher than it should be, Dr Muller said.
