A dog shelter in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah has some unusual new residents, seven baby baboons. Mahmoud Azzam, owner of DJ Kennels, which runs the shelter, said that several more people have contacted him about finding homes for their baboon pets and that people should not adopt exotic pets. He told Arab News that “these babies were ripped away from their natural habitat and that they were acquired by illegal means.” He added that monkeys, who become destructive and noisy at three-to-four-months old, can not be domesticated. Nor can they be set free on the streets. He says that the shelter has “extremely limited space,” and that the shelter had “absolutely no plan to adopt these babies, but we didn’t have another option. We have no plans for the future as well, as we cannot re-home them and we cannot release them in the wild.” There are more than 400,000 baboons in Saudi Arabia, Arab News reported, citing the Rahmah Animal Welfare Association.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
