After 14 years spent taking care of thousands of abused and abandoned exotic animals, Ayesha Kelaif is hoping the new year brings a new venue for the Shetland ponies, alpacas, deer and gazelles that are grazing on her lawn.
Mrs Kelaif, who runs the Dubai Animal Rescue Centre (Darc), has outgrown her Al Barsha villa, which has become home to 280 animals of all shapes and sizes.
"You have to be really committed to do it, but I love what I am doing because it gives me so much pleasure and happiness," the 47-year-old Emirati said.
The mother of three, who is mourning the sudden death of her husband last week, started her rescue sanctuary after taking in a stray cat, which she named Crystal, in 1997. She now has animals taking over every inch of her 12,000 square foot villa, many of them exotic and endangered species that have been abused and abandoned by their owners.
They include meerkats, a boa constrictor, African tortoises, Patagonian mara hares, an eagle owl, spotted deer, South African gazelles, iguanas, Australian sugar gliders, wild turkeys, ferrets, parrots, chinchillas, a Brazilian marmoset, a Sykes monkey and a handful of abandoned cats and dogs.
Mrs Kelaif, who runs the centre with her daughter, Sara, is hopeful of being granted land outside Dubai from the Government, as well as a proper operating licence.
"We are almost there, thankfully they are being very supportive."
When Mrs Kelaif is not cleaning up after the animals or feeding them, she is working at her full-time job at the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.
"I spend 70 per cent of my salary on the animals; we have a lot of food and vet bills, and all the animals require different meals and medicine," she said.
She relies on the help of a group of volunteers, many of whom are Emirati students, who come twice a week to the centre to clean the animals' pens, paint the cages and walk the dogs.
She also receives donations from pet stores, including Pet's Delight and Urban Tails Pet Resort, that contribute to the bills.
Every creature at the centre has a story. Mrs Kelaif recently found a dog that had been abused before being tied to a tree and left for dead in the desert. When the animals are dumped, often literally, on her doorstep, she nurses them back to health and tries to find space for them in her sanctuary. When that is not possible, she relies on the Abu Dhabi and Sharjah wildlife centres, although the latter only accepts animals native to the UAE.
"These centres take the animals that we just can't handle," said Mrs Kelaif. She has sent 53 animals to the Abu Dhabi Wildlife Centre, which rehabilitates lions, tigers and cheetahs that are often bought as pets from illegal dealers.
This weekend a two-month-old female cheetah was briefly advertised on Dubizzle.com for Dh30,000, and in May a man was arrested in Bangkok after boarding a plane to Dubai with baby leopards and other young exotic animals in his suitcases.
Reports have shown that Dubai has a vibrant trade in exotic species, often endangered and mostly imported in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and UAE law.
Under the law, potential owners of exotic and dangerous animals must obtain a permit from the Ministry of Environment and Water, which monitors the origin and care of these animals. But many bypass this process.
According to Mrs Kelaif, big cats are the most popular for pets. "Lots of people have them, and it is not only Emiratis, you'd be surprised how many expats have them too. The people who sell these animals will do anything to make money, but it's the people who buy them who make their trade viable," she said.
The only way to put a stop to the illegal trade of wild animals is through education, Mrs Kelaif said. "There's a lack of awareness here because the UAE is a very new country. Luckily, I can see the younger Emirati generation is quite open to new ideas."
molson@thenational.ae
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
THE BIO:
Sabri Razouk, 74
Athlete and fitness trainer
Married, father of six
Favourite exercise: Bench press
Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn
Power drink: A glass of yoghurt
Role model: Any good man
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More coverage from the Future Forum
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
