FLEEING expats are dumping pets in the streets of Dubai, it is claimed.
Dogs, cats and even rabbits are being abandoned as Iran’s drones and missiles target the UAE’s biggest city.
Vets here say departing owners are asking them to put their pets down.
An animal rescuer found a cat and her four kittens dumped outside their house with a written note on the crate saying: “I’m travelling back to my country because of the situation here.”
Another volunteer told me: “People are fleeing but leaving their pets where drones are falling.
“They’re letting their dogs out on the street or dumping them in parks.
“Someone even abandoned a rabbit in a park complete with its hutch, a water bowl and a bag of feed.”
Mum Claire Hopkins, 53 — who rehomes abandoned animals — said: “When the war started vets were getting calls about euthanising pets which is disgusting.”
The aviation consultant, from Newport, South Wales, added: “People are asking shelters to take back fostered and adopted dogs.
“I’ve heard about a good few hundred people who want to give their pets up — including a British family and their bulldog.
“Shelters say they’re getting absolutely inundated with dogs and cats.”
Some fleeing expats abandon their pets because of difficulty booking air travel or covering relocation costs.
There are even reports of animals left to die in the desert as owners head for the border with Oman.
Anso Stander, who runs the Six Hounds animal sanctuary in Al Ain near that border, called those dumping pets “selfish and heartless”.
The South African told me she heard of two dogs being shot in the desert near the border.
She added: “Some are just left tied to poles.”
But some animal-loving expats have vowed never to abandon their beloved pets.
One wrote on Facebook: “I won’t leave without my three dogs. It’s better we all die together.”
