Art auction to help abandoned pets

An established artist herself, Moore attracted 51 international artists, based in and out of UAE, to auction some of their works, in order to help abandoned pets in Abu Dhabi.

“There will be contemporary and traditional paintings, photographs, drawings, mosaics and silk embroidery, some of them depicting cats and dogs,” Moore told Khaleej Times.

The auction will take place on April 17, at Millennium Hotel in Abu Dhabi, but buyers can have a look at the artworks, as they are exhibited here now.

All proceeds from the auction will be donated to Strays of Abu Dhabi (SAD), a not-for-profit, volunteer-run charitable organisation dedicated to help abandoned and stray animals.

Moore got involved with SAD soon after she moved from UK to Abu Dhabi, in May 2009. She lost her pet dog Axel in England, so she turned to SAD for another canine companion and ended up rescuing two abandoned dogs — Suki and Bonnie.

Realising how much hard work and little resources SAD has to cope with, Moore decided to get involve and organise the “Animal Lovers Art Auction”, to raise much needed money for the organisation. “About 95 per cent of the animals we assist are dogs. We also have a few cats and some rabbits and other rodents,” explained Dr Rachel Shaw, director of SAD.

Only established in 2006, the organisation managed to home 20 dogs in 2007, 43 in 2008 and 83 last year.

“With the resources that we have we can only host 12 dogs at one time,” said Dr Shaw. SAD only has three kennels donated by the American Veterinary Clinic for only six months in a year and the rest of the animals are hosted by volunteers in their own home.

Hosting a dog — or any other animal — doesn’t mean just feeding and finding it a place to sleep.
It has to be vaccinated, washed, exercised regularly, health checked and treated if ill.

“It is not easy to re-home a dog. First of all, the climate here is not suitable. Dogs need to be walked and exercised daily and it’s often too hot for that,” said Dr Shaw.

She takes her own two dogs out for a walk either at 6 am or late at night, especially in summer time.

“Also, there is a cultural restrain. There aren’t that many places where dogs can be walked, and we must respect the local feelings,” she added.

Most of the cats and dogs found on the streets of Abu Dhabi are pets abandoned by residents who moved out of the country — or even went for a long holiday — and could not afford to take their pet along with them.

Just like Moore, Dr. Shaw believes that Abu Dhabi badly needs an animal shelter, which so far doesn’t exist here.

“This is not something a small volunteer based organisation can do. It has to be backed by the government,” she pointed out, adding that rumours of a shelter established by the municipality here kept coming and going.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com