Category: Animals & Wildlife

Someone attached a GoPro camera to a dji phantom drone and shot overhead footage of flamingos in Kuwait. Some really beautiful shots which you’d never think were shot in Kuwait. [Vimeo]

Note to self:
1- Capture pigeons
2- Setup instagram account called @pigeonsq8
3- Sell pigeons

[YouTube]

This story has been making rounds all over the internet the past few days but the actual discovery was made back in 2008. A shark species thought to be extinct was found dead at the Souk Sharq Fish Market. More interestingly though, flipping through the photos in the article, I had no idea shark fishing was so prevalent in the region. [Link]

K’S PATH were called in to a school in Salmiya yesterday to capture two baboons that were on the loose. The two baboons had climbed into the school from the streets forcing the children to stay inside until they were caught.

That’s just so random…

According to Kuwait Times, the zoo is going to start selling some of their animals because they have too many of them and not enough space. My recommendation is to go for a Pygmy Goat, they’re just too damn cute (they’d make great funny YouTube videos). [Link]

I spotted the flyer above stuck on a wall near Sultan Center Shaab and thought it was pretty thoughtful. A quick check of the instagram account @santanimals reveals its an account with the goal to help stray animals in Kuwait as well as creating awareness on animals in general. A great initiative.

Three Kuwaiti drug addicts and their massive dog were in their car heading out of their capital when a police patrol waved them to stop after suspecting their behavior.

The three quickly put the narcotics in a plastic bag and hid it under the dog before asking it to lie on the bag and stay there.

When the cops told them to get out to search the car, one of them warned the police not to come near the dog on the grounds it is savage and could be easily irritated.

“But the police insisted on searching the car…they were surprised to find that the dog is very calm and obedient…when they led the dog out of the car, they found the bag which contained hashish and other drugs,” Alanba daily said. [Source]

I thought this was funny to share.

We at Kuwait Zoo have a male Bengal Tiger over 15 years of age who needs a new loving home. The Zoo wants to euthanize him because of lack of space. Please advise. We are looking for any facility anywhere in the world that could take him. Preferably somewhere close to Kuwait so that he wouldn’t have to travel far.

Thank you.
Kuwait Zoo

That’s just sad. [Source]

Update: The original request in the forum was deleted and replaced with one line that says “incorrect information”

K’s PATH are organizing their third Bark in the Park event which includes the popular dog show competition and which will be held at the beautiful Japanese Gardens again.

Date: Saturday 26th October 2013
Location: KOC Ahmadi Japanese Garden (GPS Co-ords: 29.091577,48.074874)
Time: 11:00AM to 4:00PM

Mutt Competitions:
1. Best Look Alike
2. Best Dressed
3. Best Rescue
4. Best Child Handler
5. Most Adorable
6. Agility Round
7. Temptation Alley
8. Best Mixed Breed

– Registration closes Thursday, Oct 24th

Register online by clicking [Here]
The online form also guides you to calculate entry fees, which can be paid at the door on the day of the event.

For more information on the event and the original flyer click [Here]

In 2011, there was a meeting held between the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH) and en.v, a Kuwaiti social responsibility organization. The purpose of that meeting was to discuss how, with limited sponsorship and very limited government support, the two organizations could work together to provide real, tangible, and lasting protection for some of the last remaining coastal habitat areas in Kuwait Bay. The result, after much discussion, was the joint venture Al Yaal, whose mission would be to conduct hands-on conservation in three coastal habitats, document those efforts, and educate the population of Kuwait about the needs of our fragile environment. From the beginning, we didn’t know if the program would work. There was no way to predict whether or not our work would be enough to improve the environment we set out to protect, nor whether or not we would be able to engage the community to conserve coastal areas they had never seen before and had no vested interest in. The program was destined from the beginning to be a small, grass-roots effort to protect something we all knew would vanish if no one fought for it. The results would be surprising in more ways than one.

K’S PATH has been around now for about ten years, providing animal sheltering, education, lobbying, habitat protection, consultancy, and more. People who interact with us for the first time are often surprised that an organization like ours exists, not just because we help animals, but even more so because we are so professional in the way we work. Their surprise is understandable, because in general, we don’t make a lot of noise. We are able to do all of the things we do, and do them well, because we invest most of our time and effort into our programs and have very little left over for publicity. We brought this same focus and dedication to the Al Yaal program. There are many organizations that clean beaches in Kuwait, and they all deserve commendation for doing so. What most of them have in common is that they clean beaches humans use for recreation. With our animal and environment-centric focus, we wanted to protect areas that are important coastal habitat, so we started doing some research to see what areas were the most at risk of pollution and encroachment. Through a process of interviews and observation, we selected three beach areas notable for their plant life, their bird life, their animal life, their lack of development, lack of human visitation, and heavy pollution. Two sites were chosen in Sulaibikhat area, and one in the Doha area.

K’S PATH has always operated with a simple philosophy: planning and hard work equals results. Planning for this program included hiring program manager Angelique Bhattacharjie-Jeremiah, purchasing equipment, organizing volunteers, getting ministry permits, and coordinating between the different organizations involved. By April of 2011, planning was complete and the hard work began. Cleaning a beach with the idea of habitat preservation in mind is a meticulous job. Heavy equipment and teams of laborers play no part in removing waste from a sensitive habitat. Each item of waste has to be carefully removed by hand without destroying or even damaging plants or animal dens. The pace is slow, the temperature grueling, and success comes at a snails pace. Despite dozens of bags of garbage collected, it’s difficult to notice any improvement after the first few cleanups. Still, the volunteers kept coming.

The Al Yaal concept doesn’t rely upon a single body or group of volunteers. Instead, a different social group, school, or society is involved in each clean up, thereby maximizing the number of people who participate in this important project. After all, participation is an incredibly effective form of education, and engaging so many different people from so many different walks of life helped tremendously in breaking up the tedium of our efforts. K’S PATH staff and dedicated program volunteers in particular deserve a very hearty thank you for their consistent hard work (they were present at nearly every clean up for two years), but even after the first dozen clean ups, nothing much seemed to change. Sans instant gratification, we just kept working. And working. And working. All told, we came back 45 times and cleaned up over 5 tons of waste at Doha beach alone. The task was arduous, but rewarding.

A Bahraini family in Kuwait escaped unhurt when armed GCC nationals robbed them of a lion and 35,000 riyals, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. It all started after the family members bought a lion for 40,000 riyals from an unspecified GCC country. Unknown to other members of the family, a 14-year old member was interacting with one of the suspects who offered to pay 47,000 riyals for the lion, although the boy informed his uncle about it later.

Upon their arrival to the country, the family contacted the man and set a date to complete negotiation and purchase, but they were surprised when seven people pulled knives and threatened to stab them. One of the suspects had even fired gun shots in the air as warning until they fled the scene with the lion and aforementioned money. The family lodged a complaint in the police station immediately and pictures of the suspects were displayed on Instagram. The search is ongoing to arrest them. [Source]

I thought people were smuggling exotic animals into Kuwait but turns out they just drive them over the border…

Photo not related.

Luckily it didn’t attack anyone but will most likely still get deported. Kuwaitiful has more information [Here]

The Interior Ministry in cooperation with the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) is said to be looking for ‘pet’ wild animals which put at risk the lives of citizens and residents, reports Al- Anba daily. The authorities have called on residents and citizens to notify them if they are aware of any wild animals in their vicinity. The daily added, the authorities plan to confiscate wild (pet) animals and punish their keepers.

This is done in the best interests and safety of the people. The sources added the Kuwaiti Penal Code punishes those who neglect animals and the civil law punishes the owner by forcing him to compensate the victim if attacked by the wild animal.

The source pointed the concerned authorities have received several complaints accusing people of breeding wild animals such as tigers, lions and crocodiles. Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti man shot dead a crocodile with a bullet to his head after the reptile crept into his house recently in Salwa, reports Al-Rai daily.

According to reports the man was at work and his maid called him to say she could not enter the house because a big lizard was in the doorway. The man rushed home and found the ‘pet’ crocodile which had reportedly escaped from its keep from a neighboring house. [Source]

It’s about damn time.

via desertgirl

[Vimeo]

All the birds in the video were recorded in different places around Kuwait. I knew there were a bunch of bird enthusiasts in Kuwait and after watching the short film I understand why. Who knew we had so many unique birds here? The film was shot by Jassim Muqeem and you can check out more of his stuff on his website [Here]