You may keep pets in your unit but you must comply with the community rules, in addition to Dubai Municipality guidelines. All pets – cats and dogs, must be microchipped and vaccinated annually in accordance with Dubai Municipality regulations and we strongly encourage you to spay/neuter your pet to prevent breeding. We also recommend all pets wear collars with identification tags to help reunite lost pets with their owners in a timely manner.
Not only will you make more work for our community housekeeping team, but you will also anger other residents, especially if they have the misfortune of stepping in any mess left behind by your pet. Owners whose pets are found leaving pet waste in public areas may be issued a notice of violation and fines – even if they are not the one walking the dog. Keeping your pet on its leash and remembering to bring a plastic bag every time you walk can be one of the best ways to keep your community clean and hygienic. Please be sure to discuss the rules with your pet exerciser and check that they understand and follow them every time.
You are not permitted to keep any animals in your home that are not deemed ‘household pets’. Examples of these are poultry, cows, goats, sheep, horses, swine, or wild animals. Please refer to the community rules, for more information or contact Dubai Municipality on 800 900 for the list of pets that are allowed in residential communities.
If the cats near your villa are not ear-tipped (both ears are pointed) and they do not appear to be pets, please contact ECM on 800 EMAAR (36227) and we will try to assist. Most of the strays in the community have been bred from abandoned pets and we have selected trap-neuter-return (TNR) as the most appropriate method to control the cat population. TNR is recommended by Dubai Municipality and endorsed by the WSPCA and ASPCA as the most effective way to contain and control stray/feral cat populations. The good news is that spayed/neutered cats will be much quieter – and will not mate, therefore there will be no fighting, howling, kittens, or smelly territory marking from the males – so disturbances to residents should be greatly reduced.
Cats are territorial, so returning sterilized cats to their original location means they will establish a healthy, non-breeding colony in the area. This greatly reduces the chance that other cats will move into the area – if all cats were removed, then potentially unhealthy, unsterilized cats would enter, meaning the trapping campaign would have the begin all over from the start, creating a cycle. It has also been noted that cats overbreed to compensate for the lost population so the same issue would recur.
You may contact community security on 04 362 7848 or 050 280 3349, 24 hours a day or involve the local authorities for further escalation – call Dubai Police on 999.
