Gazelle spotted on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai

It was a deer-in-headlights moment for one Dubai resident on Tuesday evening when a drive down The Palm Jumeirah trunk saw a four-legged stranger bounding through the archipelago’s concrete jungle.

Now identified as a gazelle by local authorities, for resident Jim Wheat, it was a “moment of surrealism that was only ‘Trump’ed by The Donald” with whom he was planning to meet at the Atlantis The Palm.

Speak to Emirates 24|7, Wheat described the incident, saying: “It must have happened around 6.15pm; I was heading down to catch Donald Trump on The Palm, when I spotted what looked like a deer on the trunk of the island.

“The animal was running down the divider on the left side of the road before it ran out into the middle of the freeway.”

Wheat described that the animal appeared “confused” as it flitted back and forth, forcing the cars to turn on their hazard lights as the animal crossed the road and bounded off towards the buildings.

When Emirates 24|7 contacted Dubai Municipality, Dr Reza Khan, Specialist, Wildlife and Zoo Management, Public Parks and Horticulture Department, confirmed it was an Arabian gazelle.

He said in an emailed statement: “It looks definitely like an Arabian/Mountain gazelle. These animals freely live in Jebel Ali and Bab Al Shams.

“Occasionally, they are also seen along Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway after Dewa accommodation.”

When quizzed how the animal managed to make it from the desert sands to the urban jungle, he continued: “Either it is a free ranging one that has lost its way and landed on The Palm or it has escaped from captivity, as many Emiratis keep gazelles in their villa compounds.

Dr Khan stressed that the animal is “harmless up to the time no one tries to go too close to capture it.

Dubai Municipality has reiterated to residents to contact authorities on 800 900 if they come across such situations.

For Wheat, it was an encounter he is unlikely to forget.

He added: “I wasn’t sure what to do at the time, so I took a picture and put it up on social media thinking someone would get the message across to the right person.”

Urban wildlife

The gazelle’s sighting is the latest in a string of wild animal encounters witnessed by UAE residents in the city’s concrete jungle.

On March 23, a deer was found wandering in the Jumeirah Lake Towers Park after it sprinted across the road, dodging a few cars cruising by.

Children playing in the park called security that finally managed to capture the animal.

A month earlier, a video surfaced on social media platforms that featured a lioness pacing the backseat of a white SUV, with a partial view of Sheikh Zayed Road in the background.

The grainy video appeared to have been filmed by someone in traffic, positioned right behind the SUV.

In 2012 was touted by some on social media as ‘the year of an African safari on these city streets’, when a lion was spotted hanging out of car window on the Jumeirah Beach Residence road in February, while in that same month a tiger was also snapped, glaring out from a front passenger window in Dubai Marina.

Meanwhile, in May 2011, residents of Abu Dhabi were terrified when a 10-month-old cheetah was discovered roaming the streets of Al Karamah.

A few months earlier to that incident, another cheetah scare had residents in Sharjah locking themselves in their home when the wild cat was found swimming ashore from Khalid Port before seeking refuge in a nearby mosque.

While the Arabian gazelle is a native to these parts, the exotic animals have found willing buyers in the UAE, with an earlier report carried by this website suggesting that several are smuggled here from African countries.

The UAE Ministry of Environment and Water Resources have warned those involved in the illegal trade of wild animals in the country, and have reiterated that smugglers will be punished with fines and imprisonment.

The Ministry has warned that dealing in wild animals remains illegal and punishable under various rules and only licensed breeding centres are permitted to import such animals.

Punishment for smuggling or dealing with wild animals goes up to Dh10,000 and imprisonment for a few months.

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