DUBAI // An unlicensed dealer of endangered species who kept his animals in appalling conditions was yesterday fined Dh10,000.
Animals belonging to the Dutchman B??J, 33, would not be fed, their cages were not cleaned, and those that died would be left to rot or be eaten by others.
He kept fighting roosters and endangered animal and plant species to sell at a farm in Al Khawaneej.
The Ministry of Environment and Water twice sent inspectors to the farm in January last year after complaints from the public.
The ministry reported the man to police saying he did not have the proper permits to keep the plants and animals, which included a rare bird from the Amazon.
The dealer told the Court of Misdemeanours that he had been living in the UAE for six years and began caring for the animals as a hobby with a friend who later died.
“I then started working with his wife and we began procedures to legally start a farm that sells animals and plants,” he said. But he admitted he did not have the correct permit.
He was found guilty of importing and selling endangered species without the proper permits, possessing endangered animals, failing to care for the animals, establishing a veterinary clinic without a licence and leaving dead animals in cages where live animals ate them.
salamir@thenational.ae
