It’s not easy being a dog in the UAE. There’s the climate, for a start, which is not only extremely uncomfortable if you’re covered in fur, but fatal if you’re exposed to it for too long.
Not many places welcome your presence, no matter how well-behaved you are. And no matter how kind your owners, they are at the mercy of the economy; if they lose their jobs and can no longer afford to keep you, it means moving to a shelter or into temporary foster care, if you’re lucky, or a precarious life on the streets.
The end of the school year also traditionally sees an uptick in abandonment, as families return for good to their home country but leave their pets behind because of the high cost of shipping an animal and ancillary expenses – lengthy quarantine periods, for example, in some countries.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought a brief upside. As remote working became the norm in 2020, people who had shied away from having a dog because of their working hours suddenly found themselves at home, with time.
“Pet fostering definitely increased last year,” says Sarita Harding, one of a small group of volunteers who rescues and rehomes pets. “We placed 120 dogs and around 40 cats with foster homes and the majority led to adoption.”
But now it seems the respite is coming to a close. The workforce is returning to the workplace. Many who returned to their home countries, especially those from the subcontinent, are still stuck there. Those who had to take pay cuts or who lost their jobs are even more financially strapped.
And that all comes on top of the usual problems that crop up every summer, as people escape the heat for weeks or months but leave their pets behind. Foreign travel was not an option in summer 2020, but it is in 2021.
“We’re starting to see the usual pattern again of people surrendering their pet because they’re going away for eight weeks,” says Sarita. ”We have 100 animals placed in a mixture of kennels, board with vets or in foster homes – and that’s apart from the 100 or so street dogs and puppies we are feeding. “
Apart from a handful of licensed operations, such as the Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain, Animals & Us in Fujairah, K9 Friends and the Abu Dhabi Animal Shelter attached to the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, rescuing animals relies on individuals or informal groups of volunteers who pay the bills for veterinary care and food out of their own pockets.
“We have a constant vet bill running at Dh100,000, “ says Sarita, who has been involved in animal rescue since 2012.
Facebook groups such as Dogs in Dubai and Strays of Abu Dhabi post a constant stream of heartrending stories of dogs that have been given up, dumped or rescued from often appalling circumstances and are in desperate need of a home. The Stray Dogs Centre holds regular “adoption days” but recently took in 110 dogs in a single month, bringing their total of dogs needing homes to 500.
High veterinary bills can be the deciding factor in whether people keep or give up their pets, says Nisha Hughes, a volunteer with Dogs in Dubai.
“Vet bills are huge in this country and there is no pet insurance, so for people whose salaries were cut or who lost their jobs in the pandemic, keeping a pet becomes unaffordable.“
Nisha’s own dog, a Swiss shepherd, came from a boarding kennel where he had been left while his owners travelled to their home country just before lockdown last year and were then unable to return. When they did eventually make it back to the UAE, they faced job problems and were unable to afford to keep him.
“Whenever I see photos of those dogs with sad, dejected faces, I wish I could take another one but I know I can’t afford the vet bills,” she says.
It is against the law in the UAE to abandon or mistreat an animal, but enforcing the law is difficult unless the culprit is caught red-handed. Accounts of the most unspeakable cruelty are depressingly common on social media and every volunteer involved in rescuing has his or her own horror stories.
Another problem is that, although pets are required to be microchipped, the lack of a central database makes it difficult to trace where a lost or abandoned dog has come from.
“If you find a lost dog, it means phoning every vet to check its microchip number to find out if it registered,” says Sarita.”A central database with all the relevant information in one place would be a great help.”
For anyone who is thinking of taking on a pet, there are serious factors to consider. Can you afford vet’s bills? Even if your pet doesn’t get ill, the cost of regular vaccination, de-worming, grooming and such like do mount up. Can you afford to pay for dog training or daycare? And most importantly, think about what happens to your pet when the time comes for you to leave the UAE.
Attitudes toward animal welfare are changing in the UAE but ultimately, the responsibility for your pet lies with you. As the saying goes, there are no bad dogs, only bad owners.
