ABU DHABI // Thousands of people queued up with their animals at the abattoir in Mina on Monday morning to make their Eid Al Adha sacrifices.
Many came straight after morning prayers, but the long queues and hot weather meant some left and returned later that day.
The queues in the morning were up to three hours long, but by the afternoon they only had to wait about 45 minutes to get their meat.
Saadullah, an Indian, arrived in the morning but left after the seeing the huge crowd.
“I came with my family and children at 9am but it was much too busy so I returned later,” he said.
“I thought if I am going to queue up I wouldn’t finish in less than four hours but in the afternoon it took around 40 minutes.”
This year, Abu Dhabi Municipality erected tents and installed air coolers on the street near the market. There were also two temporary food vans to serve snacks and water.
Mr Saadullah said he was happy that the slaughtering process was more organised than in previous years.
Suhail Khan, a Pakistani, said: “It takes about 45 minutes and that’s fine but waiting for three hours under such a harsh weather is too much.
“But still we have to do the sacrifice.”
The price of sheep fell back from its pre-Eid surge last week.
Gul Nawab Yousuf of Mina’s Florida Trading Establishment was selling naeemi sheep at Dh1,200 last week, while the price dropped to Dh900 on Monday.
“After huge supply of animals from India prices suddenly went down and we bought local sheep at Dh1,000 and Dh1,100,” he said.
“Now we have to sell it at Dh900 because of high supply in the market.”
Australian sheep were priced at Dh800, whereas last week they cost Dh1,300.
Hatem Ali, a Sudani, said, “The market is not bad and things are being done smoothly. I got one sheep and am going to get it slaughtered.”
The Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport has urged residents to only slaughter animals at designated places.
anwar@thenational.ae
