DUBAI // A housewife has told of her shock at seeing two men throw a kitten out of a taxi window as she did the school run.
The Sri Lankan, who would only give her first name and last initial, Nisansala P, said she almost crashed her car as she swerved to avoid the cat, which died on impact with the road.
The mother-of-three said she saw the kitten scrambling in the air and she then ran back to pick it up.
“After picking up my children from their school in Sharjah. I came into Khawaneej and stopped at the traffic signal light where Dubai Municipality is. I was in the fast lane and busy talking to my kids and asking them about their day,” the 32-year-old said.
“The maximum speed limit on that road is 100kph, so I was driving at 80kph. There were a 4x4 vehicle behind me giving me a light to move to the other lane.
“I was trying to move but there was a taxi next to me with two guys sitting at the back. I do not know if they were boys or men but they are male because of their short hair.
“All of the sudden, I saw the cab window rolling down and I saw something small come flying out.”
The kitten fell onto the hard shoulder of Al Khawaneej Road and Nisansala stopped, leaving her children - aged 6, 5 and 4 - in the car to tend to the animal.
“My hands, steering wheel and seat had the blood of the poor little kitten. I knew it was dead but I took him to the vet because my children asked me to do,” she said.
Later that day she visited Al Rashidiya Police Station to lodge a report with police but officers said they could not do so as she had no witnesses, no plate number and there are no cameras in the area where it happened.
The mother said she believed it was an Ajman Taxi but she could not be certain.
The body of the kitten was left at the vet, Animal Specialist Clinic, on Al Wasl Road.
Julie Jackson, owner of Animal Care Centre in Dubai, said that children should be educated from young age how to treat pets nicely and gently.
“That is why we take animals to nursery schools and people’s houses and teach the children how to treat, hold and be nice to them as they need care, love and cuddles,” she said.
“We give them these lessons at a very young age so that, when they grow up, they can teach their own children what they learnt. The main thing we do is to prevent kids from not understanding what animals are and from hurting them.”
The incident follows another of animal cruelty last month, when a teenager in Ajman was filmed killing a cat by throwing it against a wall. The video was met with disgust from many on social media but he was released by Ajman Police without charge.
roueiti@thenational.ae