Al Ain Zoo has received four cheetah cubs that were confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change from a private owner on the UAE-Saudi border. The four cubs are aged between 6 and 10 weeks.
This comes as part of the zoo's commitment to the UAE's policy to ban the private possession of dangerous wild animals by individuals who are not qualified to look after such animals, as their presence inside houses or on farms poses a danger to the owners in particular and society in general.
Myyas Ahmed Al Quarqaz, the General Curator at the Life Sciences Department at Al Ain Zoo said, "The conservation of endangered animals, especially dangerous ones, is one of the main missions for which the zoo was founded in 1968. Accordingly, we have 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 UAE government's guidance in this respect."
He stressed on the fact that society must understand how dangerous these life-threatening practices can be and said that dangerous animals should never be kept as pets, explaining that individuals' ability and readiness, no matter how good they may think they are, fall short of the standards provided by competent bodies. These standards must be adhered to in terms of veterinary care, security, and safety.
He added: "Zoos and nature reserves were created specifically to provide legal and proper treatment for these kinds of dangerous and rare animals. In this regard, visitors can now observe the confiscated cheetahs and learn more about them during our recently launched Cheetah Race."
As part of ongoing mutual cooperation between the two entities, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change advised Al Ain Zoo that it had confiscated the four cheetahs, instructing officials to take all necessary 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 the necessary veterinary care and vaccinations to ensure that they were not carrying any diseases.
Al Ain Zoo is one of the most important organisations involved in the care of endangered animals at both the Arab and international levels. It provides the highest standards of veterinary and animal care, in addition to its breeding and conservation programmes which aim to preserve wildlife and nature and has specialised experienced cadres in this field. Additionally, the zoo plays an important educational and cultural role in promoting nature conservation and protecting rare animals that are at risk of extinction due to human activity, such as poaching or illegal possession.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
