ABU DHABI // Residents of Al Raha Gardens have expressed their outrage after a tenant’s cat was shot with a hunting bow in their backyard on Friday.
“I know for 100 per cent sure that this was malicious,” said Adele Bezuidenhout, the owner of Jack, a 10-month-old black and white Arabian mau who is recovering after emergency surgery.
“I asked the vet three times yesterday, and she said to me she simply cannot see this being an accident.”
Mrs Bezuidenhout, a South African who has lived in the UAE for six years, said she and her family had gone out to dinner on Friday night.
When they arrived home later that evening, a distraught neighbour arrived at their door.
“He said to me, ‘Something terrible has happened. I need you to be calm and don’t freak out, but I just took Jack to the vet as he was shot with a bow and arrow’,” she said.
“I was so shocked that I was probably standing there for five minutes and I couldn’t move.”
No witnesses have come forward, but Mrs Bezuidenhout and her neighbours believe Jack may have been shot while walking along a concrete wall that links the compound’s properties, then fell into the neighbour’s backyard.
With a large arrow sticking out of his body, Jack stumbled through the neighbour’s open back door and collapsed in the family’s living room, where he was found by the children.
“When they noticed the cat was very seriously wounded, they started crying and screaming. My wife also started screaming and crying,” said the neighbour.
They took the injured animal to the Australian Veterinarian Hospital in Khalifa City, where a lifesaving operation costing the Bezuidenhouts Dh2,200 was carried out.
The vet said that the arrow had gone through Jack’s thorax and crushed vertebrae.
The arrow, which was 82 centimetres long, was removed during the operation.
“He’s all stitched up. He’s got two drains in his wounds to get rid of the blood and the fluids. He’s on three types of antibiotics and pain medication,” said Mrs Bezuidenhout, who has kept the arrow as evidence for police.
Animal abuse is punishable under UAE law by a maximum of a year in jail and fines of between Dh5,000 and Dh20,000.
“The police need to catch these people,” the neighbour said, echoing the sentiments of others who have expressed alarm on the Al Raha Gardens Community Page on Facebook.
“We cannot live thinking that around us there are people with these kinds of weapons. Today they do a cat, tomorrow nobody knows. This is insane. If you can shoot a cat, you can also shoot a human.”
Mrs Bezuidenhout said that even if the perpetrator was not found, she wanted to get the word out about the attack. She contacted police and the property manager, Khidmah, and said both had been supportive.
A spokesman for Khidmah said the company was “aware of the unfortunate incident with a pet cat, who is now back with his owner. The matter is being dealt with by the police and we are providing support with their inquiries”.
rpennington@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
How Beautiful this world is!
