Dubai bans selling and buying dangerous wild animals from July

Selling and buying predatory and dangerous animals and birds, including big wild cats such as lions, cheetahs, panthers, tigers and leopards, as well as hyenas, crocodiles, wild dogs, predatory reptiles, eagles and vultures, will be outlawed in Dubai from July according to Federal Law No. 22 of 2016, the Dubai Municipality announced today.

The ban aims to protect people's lives from dangerous animals, said Zuhoor Al Sabbagh, Director of Public Health Services Department at Dubai Municipality.

Under the new ruling, all predators should be registered at the Municipality, she noted.

Domesticated cats, dogs, rats, cows, sheep, camels, llamas, alpacas and other non-dangerous animals are not included in the ban.

The list also includes zebras, African wild asses, kiangs, giraffes, rhinoceroses, bears, weasels, aardvarks, mongooses, pronghorns, as well as wild birds such as ostriches, eagles and vultures, gulls, penguins, cassowaries, and marsupials, xenarthrans, bats, snakes, lizards, scorpions, spiders, and others.

In early January, the UAE passed a law banning the private ownership and trade of wild and dangerous animals.

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