MASSACRE DES ANIMAUX ERRANTS À DUBAÏ : « JE VOUS SUPPLIE DE METTRE UN TERME À CES RAMASSAGES »
Open letter to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Your Highness, I am horrified to learn that the municipality of Dubai is cleaning up its streets of stray animals, trapping colonies of cats – many of them already sterilised and micro chipped – to eliminate or abandon them in the desert / inhospitable areas where these poor animals are left to die. How can such an abomination happen in a country that prides itself on exemplary modernity? How can Your Highness, whose poems reveal a sensitive soul, let these cruel measures take place, knowing that they make no sense and that culls have never been a solution for the management of animals. The only responsible, ethical, and durable method consists of sterilization, and education to promote adoptions, and the application of those laws, already in place in your country, that punish negligence and abandonment. It appears that Expo 2021 might be one of the reasons behind this programme of extermination. Do you believe that it is necessary to sacrifice thousands of lives to gain a good reputation for cleanliness? Or on the contrary would it not be better to show the world that the United Arab Emirates has a heart, an ethic, and a responsible policy towards stray animals and that it can work with organisations, individual rescuers and veterinarians to implement systematic campaigns of sterilisation and create model shelters to host the animals? I beg you to put an end to these trappings and remove the sanctions and prohibitions against associations and individuals who only want to help. You will not only spare the lives of thousands of animals that have already had the misfortune of being exposed to the hazards of abandonment but also reestablish harmony within the community and restore the image of your country, which has been severely affected. With all my consideration,
BB