DUBAI // Three men who fed a cat to hungry dogs and filmed the horrific killing on video will clean Dubai Zoo for the next three months.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, ordered the punishment be handed down to the men under new community service laws.
The video, which has been widely shared on social media, shows a white cat being pulled out of a cage before it is set upon by two large rottweilers.
In the video, one of the men can be heard saying in Arabic “this is a cat who ate chicken and pigeons” before encouraging the dog to drag the cat outside the cage.
“You eat chicken? You eat chicken? Eat chicken,” he says, talking to the cat, before shouting “eat him, eat him,” to the dog.
After a struggle, the cat goes limp and he can be heard saying “they shut him up, they shut him up”.
Dubai Police said they arrested the pair “in a farm found in one of the emirates”.
Sheikh Mohammed said that the three men will clean Dubai Zoo for four hours per day, every day, for the next three months.
Maj Gen Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, commander-in-chief of Dubai Police, welcomed the order and said it reflects the rejection of all forms of community and violence, including against animals.
Last month, Sheikh Mohammed ordered a group of men arrested for reckless driving to perform community service for a month.
They will have to clean the city’s streets for four hours a day for 30 days, Dubai Media Office said on Thursday.
The driver and passengers were arrested after being filmed stunt driving at City Walk. A video showed the Emirati motorist driving in circles at a high speed, just metres away from pedestrians, after heavy rain.
