UAQ geared up for Eid Al Adha with 32 barns of animals

Umm Al Quwain - Different types of cows, goats, and camels are available in the market to meet the pressing demand from the emirate during the season, according to a senior municipal official.

The Umm Al Quwain Municipality is geared up for the Eid Al Adha with sufficient amounts of Adahi or sacrificed animals in 32 barns across the northern emirate. 
Different types of cows, goats, and camels are available in the market to meet the pressing demand from the emirate during the season, according to a senior municipal official. 
Ghanim Ali Saeed Ghanim, Head of the Public Health and Environment, UAQ Municipality, said the staff vets are on duty on two shifts; morning and evening to examine the Adahi before and after the slaughter. 
"The Umm Al Quwain Central Abattoir and that of Salma area have been equipped with all the tools and human cadres needed to avoid waiting hours and provide a high quality service to the locals and residents here." 
Urging, he said the public needs to avoid street or off abattoir slaughtering to protect public health, the environment and image of the city. "Both the street butchers and customers will be stringently penalised." 
Warning, Ghanim said random street-based slaughtering would be fought with no tolerance. "A hefty fine of Dh5,000 to Dh20,000 shall be slapped against illegal slaughtering of sacrificed animals off the set abattoirs of the northern emirate." 
Such malpractices, mostly done by unlicensed butchers, pose a grave risk to the standards of public health and environment, he noted. 
"Illegal slaughtering proved to be very unhealthy because some of the animals slain were sick and unfit for human consumption. Therefore, the rigorous punishment is meant to curb this phenomenon and protect consumers." 
The close monitoring, intensified inspection raids, as well as the stringent penalties on both the illegal butchers and owners of the animals enacted have led to a significant drop in the carcass being butchered outside slaughterhouses, he said. 
"Competent, well-trained staff butchers and vets with uniform and ID cards will be available at the UAQ Central Abattoir from 6am to 5pm to ease the examination and slaughtering operations of the animals." 
Ghanim underlined that the Municipality has already distributed a big amount of brochures to develop public awareness about the right procedures and specifications for buying a fit animal." 
Dr Diaudeen Saleh, the vet in charge at the UAE Central Abattoir, said the UAQ Central Abattoir is equipped with all facilities and well-trained cadres. "These include two competent veterinarians, 20 butchers, and 12 cleaners."    
The same applies to the Salma Slaughterhouse where a veterinarian, six butchers, and five cleaners. "These are apart from three employees of the public health section at the UAQ municipality who strictly follow all operations until delivery to customers." 
Random samples of the Adahi are collected before and after the slaughtering process and sent to the Vet Lab of the Ministry of Environment and Water to ensure that it is safe, diseases free, and fit for human consumption, he pointed out. "Should any contamination be detected, the animal is immediately disqualified, and sent out of the abattoir." 
The medical staffers at the two abattoirs of the emirate always enlighten the customers on how to properly choose and examine the cattle they intend to sacrifice before purchasing it, Dr Saleh elaborated. 
"Some cattle, which have a mutilated ear, and badly injured it its legs or eyes were spotted, and these may not be sacrificed as per the rulings of Islamic Sharia which has set a number of conditions for the right Adahi." 
Recently, the UAQ Central Abattoir has been equipped with new automatic devices, and a spacious waiting area for customers to watch over the slaughtering process. "Two more big chilling rooms were built to preserve the meat, and the Cattle Bens was made closer to the abattoir to ease customers' sufferings."
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com 

• Umm Al Quwain