Musician seeks owner of tortoise found roaming in Al Barsha
The tortoise was just walking through an alley, bumping into stuff, walking towards a construction site. When he was halfway through the aluminum barriers, that’s when I thought I can’t just leave him there.”
Faraz Khan, Dubai resident
dubai — Who won the race — the tortoise or the rabbit? A Dubai resident said they’re both failing because of humans, as he recently rescued a land tortoise roaming around Al Barsha 3 street by itself and witnessed a rabbit being abandoned around the same area two weeks ago.
Faraz Khan, a musician in the emirate, rescued a land tortoise walking on the road in Al Barsha 3 on Friday, as he was afraid it would either get run over or fall into a ditch.
According to the International Union of Conservation of Nature, 129 out of 207 species of turtles and tortoises are either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
“I saw him pretty far away and I couldn’t tell if it was a cat or a small dog because of the way he was moving,” Khan told Khaleej Times. “When I drove closer and I saw the shell, I was like ‘no way’. I thought that maybe someone around is keeping a watch on him because there are a bunch of villas here. I waited for five to 10 minutes, then I asked the people in the nearby villas and they said it wasn’t theirs. He was just walking through an alley, bumping into stuff, walking towards a construction site. When he was halfway through the aluminum barriers, that’s when I thought I can’t just leave him there because he’s either going to fall in a ditch or someone is going to run over him.
“My gut feeling is that it definitely belongs to one of the villas in the area. From their huge villas with backyards, I hear peacocks and dogs barking all over the place. So, I’m guessing he was someone’s garden pet. I don’t think he was dumped and that someone would just leave him there on the street. I think he either escaped or he got loose. I told the guards around the area that if someone comes looking to let them know where I live.”
Khan has three, small, domestic tortoises of his own that he has had for the past 10 years and wants to ensure the tortoise he found, which he temporarily has named as ‘Bubba Gum’, is rehomed to its rightful owner or by a conservation group.
“My wife has been rehoming animals for the past 10 years and she’s taking care of him. I definitely don’t want to keep him because he’s going to be a handful. I think it’s highly irresponsible if someone is keeping an endangered animal and not looking after it. If it’s endangered, it shouldn’t be in a house to begin with and it shouldn’t be on the loose,” he said.
Abandoned rabbit
Two weeks ago, Khan and his wife found a rabbit dumped in Al Barsha Park by its owners. He said the rabbit was alone, cold and shivering from fear.
“It was about three feet away from its cage and that was a sign that it had been dumped and it was just super sad,” Faraz Khan added.
This is not the first time an occurrence as such has happened in Al Barsha. Two years ago, a lioness was found roaming the streets of Al Barsha 2.
Khan is currently looking after the tortoise and has requested the owner to reach out.