Common front sought against animal cruelty



DUBAI // Local authorities and non-profit groups are calling for a co-ordinated national attack on animal cruelty, after the shooting of two cats this month and other incidents.

Mickey, a cat from Al Barsha, was shot 12 times and suffered skull, lung, pelvis and leg injuries. The other cat, Safa, who lives near Safa Park, has been shot in the head twice in three months.

"Proactive steps against animal cruelty are taken by the authorities but such acts happen globally when individuals ignore the law," said Dr Max Spicer of The Veterinary Hospital in Al Quoz, who treated both cats.

Such crimes and other cases of cruelty prompted the municipality's veterinary department to last week organise its first UAE Animal Welfare Conference.

Participants including representatives from municipalities, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) and K9 Friends met officials from the Ministry of Environment and Water to call for a more cohesive strategy.

Dr Elsayyed Mohamed, the programme manager of Ifaw, said common violations included dog fights, irresponsible ownership, improper transport and keeping exotic and endangered animals as pets.

"We need a nationwide database clearly identifying the number of cases that go to court and penalties should be specific and categorised," Dr Mohamed said.

Jackie Ratcliffe, chairman of the dog rescue group K9 Friends, said: "There is still frustration and emotion around this topic. The laws are there but need to be properly implemented because, in the area of cruelty, there are still unanswered questions."

In 2007, the President passed a law outlining animal welfare policy, and in 2008 a ministerial decree outlined which crimes against animals were punishable.

The animal welfare division in the Ministry of Water and Environment is responsible for setting laws and regulations, and carries out its own inspections, while municipalities are responsible for enforcing the laws in their emirates, issuing fines and referring cases to prosecution.

In Dubai, the municipality's veterinary department investigates cases. Adil Al Badri, the head of theanimal welfare unit, said its inspectors had seen cases of overcrowding, animal depression, injuries, overworking and disease on farms, at ports and in markets, and issued fines accordingly.

In Abu Dhabi, the animal welfare department at Abu Dhabi's Food Control Authority investigates the treatment of animals at farms.

"If there is good management, animals will not fall ill and disease will not spread," said Mutasim Al Rosan, a food-safety inspector at the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Mr Al Rosan said a law regarding the transport of animals would soon be introduced and a national law on farms inspection was also being studied because "a unified code of practice is currently not in place".

Animal welfare is a matter of "fine tuning", said Dr Hamid Orban, a specialist from the animal welfare section at Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, who also stressed transport was a crucial issue.

"One of the main unanswered questions is who is responsible for issuing licences for transporting animals and overseeing the movement within the Emirates?" Dr Orban said, agreeing with Dr Mohamed that there were too many "irregularities in penalties".

"It is irresponsible ownership that leads to animal suffering," he said.

Mrs Ratcliffe said the situation was far better than when the organisation was established in 1989.

Since 2000, she said, more than 3,000 dogs had been given new homes through K9 Friends. And about 143 dogs were being cared for in K9 Friend's new shelter in the Jebel Ali Industrial Area, paid for by the Dubai Government in 2007.

"Cruelty is often caused by ignorance," Mrs Ratcliffe said. "We have many educational campaigns to teach young kids so that these cases do not happen in the future."

Dh20,000 fine for offenders

According to a federal law decreed in 2007, anyone who is cruel to an animal in any of the following ways may be prosecuted:

- Using cruelty when preparing an animal for slaughter.

- Using an animal for experiments that cause bodily or mental pain.

- Using an animal to perform or fight for amusement.

- Subjecting an animal to negligence, cruelty or malnourishment.

- Giving an animal any restricted medicine or chemicals to promote its growth.

- Transporting an animal from one place to another in a cruel way, or killing it in a cruel way.

- Using an animal for work or racing beyond its capacity, and without giving it sufficient food, water or rest.

Anyone who breaks these laws is punishable by a fine of up to Dh20,000.

* Maey El Shoush

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

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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.”

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Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.

Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.

Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.

Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.

Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.

Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.

Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.

Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.

Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.

Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.

Remaining fixtures
  • August 29 – UAE v Saudi Arabia, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
  • September 5 – Iraq v UAE, Amman, Jordan (venue TBC)