Street butchers use rush at abattoirs to make a killing
Street butchers make tens of thousands of dirhams during the few days of the Eid Al Adha season by charging exorbitant fees to slaughter sacrificial animals. One Asian butcher said he makes Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 over two or three days, charging Dh250-Dh300 per goat or sheep. For a cow or camel, the fee is Dh800-Dh1,000.
Abattoirs charge around Dh15 to slaughter a goat or sheep and Dh50-Dh70 for a cow or camel.
The slaughtering of animals outside abattoirs, or licensed butcheries, is illegal, and is punishable with a Dh2,000 fine, or prosecution, depending on the case.
However, street or ‘roaming’ butchers are in high demand during Eid Al Adha because customers do not want to wait in long lines to have their sacrificial animal slaughtered at municipality abattoirs, which are busy during the period.
According to residents, who did not wish to be named, some butchers, mostly from countries in the Indian subcontinent, come to the UAE on visit visas specifically to tout their services.
Every year, as Eid Al Adha draws near, some licensed butchers working in legal butcher shops also approach customers with the promise of a quick sacrifice on Eid day, residents said.
Others approach customers looking for a sacrificial animal at cattle markets while some approach people lining up at abattoirs. The street butchers usually work in tandem with pickup truck drivers, offering to transport an animal from the market to the customer’s residence or a place of their own for the slaughter. That place could be a villa, an alleyway, a deserted area, a warehouse — just about anywhere the butchers believe they will not be caught by authorities.
On Tuesday, Gulf News posed as a customer at the Dubai Cattle Market and found a street butcher offering to slaughter goats for Dh200-Dh400 per head.
During a ‘negotiation’ with a livestock seller to buy eight big goats, an Asian man who was standing close to the shed joined the conversation. “I’ll make everything easy for you. I have a truck and a team of people working for me. I will put the goats in the truck and take them to a nice place I have in Rashidiya. We will cut the goats into small pieces, pack the pieces, and deliver the bags to your home. You can come ride with me, don’t worry about anything,” he said.
The conversation followed a warning by Dubai Municipality that butchers in the cattle market and other meat shops will be fined Dh2,000 if they indulge in illegal slaughter.
Last Eid Al Adha, 45 roaming butchers and two porters were caught in the cattle market area at Al Ghusais during an inspection campaign by the municipality in coordination with Dubai Police. Seven street vendors, beggars and other violators were also held in Dubai in connection with practice.