Category: Middle East

Camel jockey civil rights case refiled in Kentucky after Florida dismissal

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2007:
LEXINGTON, Ky.–Plaintiffs including the parents of five
unnamed boys who were allegedly enslaved in Dubai as camel jockeys
filed a class action lawsuit during the second week of September 2007
against Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, brother of the ruler of
Dubai.
The ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bid Rashid al Maktoum, was in
Lexington, Kentucky, to attend the annual Keeneland September
Yearling Sale, where the family has reportedly paid as much as $3
million for highly regarded thoroughbred horses.
The lawsuit alleges that Sheikh Hamdan was complicit in
enslaving as many as 30,000 children during the past 30 years for use
as camel jockeys–a misnomer, since the children, sometimes as
young as four years of age, are tied to the backs of the racing
camels, and have no ability to control them. Many are thrown and
injured, or even killed.

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Dogs symbolize the west in Iran

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2007:

TEHRAN–Radio Free Europe on September 14, 2007 amplified
and elaborated upon accounts circulating for more than six weeks that
Iran has embarked upon an intensified campaign of harassment against
dog keepers.
“Since the creation of the Islamic republic in Iran in 1979,”
Radio Free Europe said, “the acceptability of dog ownership has been
debated by the authorities. Friday prayer leader Hojatoleslam
Gholamreza Hassani, known for his hard-line stances, was quoted a
few years ago as saying that all dog owners and their dogs should be
arrested.
“In the past,” Radio Free Europe recounted, “dog owners
have received warnings or were forced to pay fines for having a pet
dog. Despite such harassment, dog ownership has increased,
especially among young people in Tehran.

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Sri Lankan district court ruling puts Kandy Animal Birth Control program in jeopardy

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

 

KANDY, Sri Lanka–A District Court ruling that there are too
many dogs at large in Kandy may permit the Kandy Municipal
Corporation to resume killing street dogs on October 5, 2007, 60
days after the ruling was issued.
The killing would contravene a national no-kill policy
proclaimed in June 2006 by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
who reaffirmed it in July 2007–but Kandy has defied official policy
to kill dogs before.
“The Kandy Animal Birth Control program started in 2002,
with municipal cooperation,” summarized Eva Ruppel (“Padma”) of the
Save Our Friends Association. When KMC cooperation was discontinued,
we went to the courts to prevent the killing of dogs. Despite a
court-order in our favor, the KMC killed 360 dogs in August 2005.”
ABC supporters stopped the killing by charging Kandy
officials with contempt of court. The August 5 ruling dismissed the
contempt charges, and gave the ABC program 60 days to reduce the dog
population.

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Dolphin captures in Solomon Islands are linked to Panama, Dubai

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

GAVATU– As of July 24, 2007, Canadian dolphin broker
Christopher Porter was reportedly holding as many as 50 recently
captured dolphins in sea pens at Malaita in the Solomon Islands.
“Ocean Embassy, also known as the Wildlife International
Network, is in the Solomon Islands trying to export the dolphins to
Dubai,” Dolphin Project founder Ric O’Barry told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
Five new dolphin facilities in Dubai want dolphins, whales, polar
bears–every marine mammal they can get. Ocean Embassy is the broker.
“Somehow Ocean Embassy has been able to stay out of the media
regarding Dubai,” O’Barry added. “They brokered the deal but Porter
gets all of the attention. Ocean Embassy represents big money,”
O’Barry continued. “They dwarf Porter’s operation. The parent
corporation began selling securities via a private placement offering
in the United States in late 2003. At present, the parent company is
represented by 195 investors from the United States, Mexico, the
United Kingdom, and France.

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Pound seizure shocks Sri Lanka

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka–Requi-sitioning
shelter animals for laboratory use, the mostly
banned and discredited practice called “pound
seizure” in the U.S., is now reaching Asian
awareness through the story of Wussie, a gentle
former street dog.
Told first by Sri Lankan newspapers,
Wussie’s story went global via the Hong
Kong-based Asian Animal Protection Network.
Scientific institutions and regulators in New
Delhi, Mexico City, Cambridge, U.K., and
Washington, D.C. were soon investigating their
unwitting involvement.

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Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak orders report on street dog shooting & poisoning

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:

 

CAIRO–Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak has asked the
Ministry of Agriculture to “prepare a report about stray dogs in
Egypt, and to open an investigation into reports published by
various press and animal welfare organizations who have been appalled
by the practice of shooting and poisoning dogs,” the Al Masry-Al
Youm newspaper reported on May 19, 2007.
Unnamed Ministry of Agriculture sources reportedly told Al
Masry-Al Youm that Mubarak “called for applying humane international
measures in dealing with stray animals, instead of shooting and
poisoning, which detracts from Egypt’s status as a land of culture
and center of tourism.”

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Beirut animal rescuers are back online

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
“Just now, after seven months, were we able to establish a
new e-mailing system,” Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
wrote on March 27, 2007, after last e-mailing directly to ANIMAL
PEOPLE on October 3, 2006, eight days after evacuating 300 animals
to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.
BETA had rescued 237 dogs and 2005 cats during two months of
fighting in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and the Hezbollah
militia.
“Even though the war is over, the political situation is
still unstable,” BETA said. “Everybody is concerned with personal
survival, scared of what will happen the next day, and defending
animals seems insignificant to most people. Rescues never stopped.
We now have 200 dogs and 130 cats in our care,” with an “urgent need
for evacuation of our dog shelter. Our neighbors are not very fond
of dogs and have issued us a month’s notice,” BETA explained.

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Socotra clinic

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
U.S. Army captain Gwynne Kinley, Combined Joint Task
Force-Horn of Africa veterinarian and mission commander, in March
2007 directed a three-day seminar on animal health care for 30 women
from the villages of Qalanisah and Hadibo on Socotra, a Yemeni
island off Somalia in the Indian Ocean. Women are the main caretakers
for the estimated 150,000 goats and sheep on Socotra.
“It was important to have an all-female team,” U.S. Army
staff sergeant and civil affairs specialist Jennifer A. Brooks
explained to technical sergeant Carrie Bernard. specialist. “The
women in Yemen are usually completely covered, except for their
eyes, and do not socialize with men who are not family members.”
A local male veterinarian served as interpreter.
Bernard relayed the particulars and photo to ANIMAL PEOPLE
via Air Force News Agency Public Relations representative Gerry
Proctor, of San Antonio, Texas.

Jordan clinic opens

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan on March 19, 2007 opened
the Garden Sanctuary for Animal Welfare Center in Amman, to provide
free veterinary care to the animals of farmers and villagers.
Directed by Margaret Ledger, co-founder of the Humane Center for
Animal Welfare, the center will be funded for two years by the World
Society for the Protection of Animals, which has been active in
Jordan since 2004. The Brooke Hospital for Animals has operated an
equine clinic and a mobile unit in Jordan since 1988, and the
Society for Protecting Animals Abroad, involved in Jordan since
1991, now operates two clinics and four mobile units in Jordan.

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