Dubai has banned any selling or buying of 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.
The Municipality of Dubai has announced the new restriction, which will take effect in July 2017 in compliance with the UAE federal law no. 22 of 2016.
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 with the Municipality of Dubai.
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.