4 confiscated cheetah cubs find their new home
ALA IN: Al A in Zoo received four cheetah cubs, aged between 6 to 10 weeks, that were confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change from a private owner on the Uae-saudi border.
This is in line with the commitment of the zoo to the UAE’S policy to ban the private possession of dangerous wild animals by individuals who are not qualified to look after them, as their presence inside houses or on farms poses a danger to the owners and the general public.
“The conservation of endangered animals, especially dangerous ones, is one of the main missions for which the zoo was founded in 1968. Accordingly, we included a centre devoted to the care of confiscated animals as one of our new development projects, in order to achieve our mission, in line with the guidance of the UAE government,” said Myyas Ahmed Al Quarqaz, General Curator of the Life Sciences Department at Al Ain Zoo.
The public must understand how dangerous these life-threatening practices can be, he said, adding that dangerous animals should never be kept as pets.
He noted that wildlife standards must be adhered to in terms of veterinary care, security, and safety.
As part of the ongoing co-operation between the two entities, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change informed the Al Ain Zoo that it had confiscated the four cheetahs, and instructed officials at the zoo to take all measures to protect and care for the animals.
The zoo received the cubs and quarantined them as part of the normal procedure to provide them with veterinary care and vaccinations to ensure they were not diseased.
Last month, the Al Ain Zoo started receiving its first batch of students from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the College of Food and Agriculture at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) as part of an internship programme launched by the zoo earlier this year designed to provide training for future generations of veterinarians.
The four-week internship programme provides hands-on experience in the management and treatment of animals at the zoo and aims to build bridges of co-operation with other parties concerned in this regard.