Thousands of pets are being abandoned in Dubai as their owners flee the Middle East because of the Iran war, animal charities have said.
The RSPCA said pets of fleeing UK nationals could become “hidden victims” of the conflict as people who had relocated to the Gulf city scramble for an exit and struggle to bring their animals.
Last week, the UK government operated an emergency evacuation flight for people leaving the Middle East as the war continued. About 45,000 British nationals have left the Middle East since 1 March.
Hannah Mainds, the chief executive of the RSPCA Blackpool and north Lancashire branch, previously lived in Dubai and helped care for pets left behind after their owners suddenly left the country.
“Some [pets] were microchipped and clearly once loved, but their families had gone. It’s heartbreaking for rescuers and frightening for the animals,” Mainds said.
Dubai is known for its for particularly egregious rights violations. Other countries have those too, but the article mentions people from the UK. Moving from the UK to the UAE does signal, at least to me, that human rights are not that big of a concern for you. The UK has a 91/100 vs UAE 18/100 “freedom” score. If the same article was about people fleeing Russia or Sudan back to the UK, I imagine there’d be a similar response. But Dubai in particular has a huge wealth gap, so on top of spending money to prop up an oppressive state, they are still able to surround themselves with luxury. I don’t think that’s racist, as much as unfortunate.
While I appreciate the sentiment, the same can be said about the U.S. right now. There’s enormous wealth disparity and human-rights violations worldwide, so that felt like throwing a stone from a glass house.
For what it’s worth, I also tell people that moving to the US at this point is basically supporting fascism. I said the same about vacationing here too. There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism etc etc, but since we’re all participating we might as well do some harm reduction. To me, moving to Dubai signals that you legitimately do not care about how people are treated, not just that you’re unwilling to lift a finger to help, but that you’re actively antagonistic towards the working class. I understand if not everyone feels like that, but I don’t think it’s a race thing was my main point. Mostly a “why are you supporting an even worse state?” thing. For the record, everyone sucks and we should all do better.