
Abu Dhabi Municipality visits pet shops; ensures animals are in safe environment
Through its Animal Welfare Department, inspectors visited dozens of pet shops across the city, ensuring that animals were being kept in healthy conditions and reminding businesses that pets deserve more than just a place to be sold—they deserve compassion and proper care.
During the visits, inspectors checked the health conditions of animals and birds for sale, assessed shop environments, and reinforced the importance of veterinary care.
They also reminded pet shop operators of their responsibilities under the UAE's Animal Welfare Law and related regulations.
The campaign aims to ensure that each animal has a chance at a healthy and happy life.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Baker, Emily Mayfield surprise Oklahoma Sooners walk-on WR with scholarship
Being a walk-on player in college football is a tough gig. There are no guarantees that you'll have a spot on the roster from year to year, and there are even fewer guarantees that you'll ever see the field. The Oklahoma Sooners have college football's most famous and most successful walk-on player of all-time as one of their alumni, former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield. He began as a walk-on at Texas Tech and then Oklahoma, before the Sooners put him on scholarship in 2014. On Wednesday morning, Mayfield showed some love to one of the Sooners' current walk-ons in a surprise announcement. OU's team meeting on Wednesday featured a video message from Mayfield and his wife Emily. They were handing out the first of two Baker and Emily Mayfield Foundation Walk-On Scholarships. This scholarship awards a walk-on player at OU with a $10,000 scholarship. The Mayfields shared a personalized message to walk-on wide receiver Jakeb Snyder, telling him that he had been awarded the scholarship. "We wanted to say congratulations,' Emily said. "Your hard work and mindset really stood out to us and truly spoke volumes. Staying late, running extra routes, studying film, and showing up every single day.' "As a former walk-on, I know the grind,' Baker said. "No promises, just work. That's why I'm proud to name you, Jakeb Snyder, OU receiver, Oklahoma native and first-ever recipient of the Baker and Emily Mayfield walk-on scholarship.' Snyder is entering his third season with the Sooners in 2025. He had played defensive back for each of the last two seasons before making the switch to WR this offseason. Snyder made two game appearances as a redshirt freshman in 2024, playing on special teams against Temple and Maine. Prior to walking on in Norman, Snyder helped lead the Bixby High School Spartans to three consecutive state championships. During his senior season, he led Bixby with 53 receptions for 459 yards and six touchdowns while adding 55 tackles, including three for a loss, and four interceptions on defense. Snyder chose a walk-on role at Oklahoma over a scholarship offer from Navy. The role of the walk-on player is still being defined in the NIL/transfer portal age of college football. Originally, it looked like roster limits were going to be capped at 105 total players beginning this year, before a new policy was put in place that allowed walk-ons already on the roster to be grandfathered in during the transition period. However, those roster caps will eventually be in place, limiting the number of walk-on players that teams can carry each year. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is heavily in favor of keeping more walk-ons on the team, and he told reporters in a press conference earlier this summer that some of his walk-ons practiced with no promise of a roster spot once the season started. They've now been grandfathered in, but not every walk-on across the country was that fortunate. Players like Snyder and the other walk-ons the Sooners have on their current 111-man roster decided to stick around, despite there being no guarantees, and they were rewarded with the grandfather policy. Snyder now heads into the new season on scholarship, a testament to what hard work can accomplish. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin. This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Sooners walk-on wideout surprised with scholarship by Mayfields
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Scientists find surprising sex reversal in Australian birds
Scientists have documented a surprising rate of sex reversal in wild Australian birds, a phenomenon that could be explained by rising pollution or other environmental triggers. A study of five common Australian species, including kookaburras, magpies and lorikeets, found around six percent of birds had the chromosomes of one sex but the reproductive organs of another. The findings indicated a surprisingly high number of birds had reversed their sex after birth, said researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast. "This indicates that sex determination in wild birds is more fluid than we thought, and can persist into adulthood," said study co-author Dominique Potvin. The study performed DNA tests on almost 500 birds. The overwhelming majority of sex reversals involved genetically female birds growing male gonads. "We also discovered a genetically male kookaburra who was reproductively active with large follicles and a distended oviduct, indicating recent egg production," said Potvin. Sex reversal is well known in certain species of reptile and fish but is thought to be rare in wild birds and mammals. Scientists have documented how pollutants and even warm temperatures can trigger sex reversal in frogs. The cause of sex reversal in wild birds was not clear, the University of the Sunshine Coast study said. But it could be due to environmental factors, such as hormone-disrupting chemicals building up in wild areas. "Understanding how and why sex reversal occurs is vital for conservation and for improving the accuracy of bird research," added Potvin. The study was published this week in peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters. sft/tc
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chinese investors eyeing Indonesia to avoid US tariffs, tap local market
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Gao Xiaoyu, the founder of an industrial land consulting firm in Jakarta, has been inundated with calls from Chinese companies eager to expand or set up operations in Indonesia as they try to shield themselves from the United States' hefty import tariffs. The 19% U.S. tariff rate for goods from Indonesia is the same as for Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, and just below Vietnam's 20%. China's rates currently exceed 30%. Shop Top Mortgage Rates A quicker path to financial freedom Your Path to Homeownership Personalized rates in minutes But Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy and the world's fourth most populous country, has an edge over its neighbours - the potential of its vast consumer market. "We are quite busy these days. We have meetings from morning till night," said Gao, who set up her company PT Yard Zeal Indonesia in 2021 with four employees and now has more than 40. "The industrial parks are also very busy." Indonesia's economy expanded at a better-than-expected 5.12% in the second quarter, the fastest pace in two years, government data showed last week. "If you can establish a strong business presence in Indonesia, you've essentially captured half of the Southeast Asian market," said Zhang Chao, a Chinese manufacturer who sells motorcycle headlights in Indonesia, the world's third biggest market for motorbikes. Vietnam and Thailand were among the major beneficiaries of the first wave of Chinese companies' overseas diversification, but amid the latest trade turmoil with the United States, other near neighbours are benefiting. "There has always been a synergy ... with Chinese corporates having the confidence to set up shop with ease in Indonesia," said Mira Arifin, the Indonesia country head at Bank of America. "Indonesia has a huge talent pool with a dynamic young demographic that encourages foreign investors to rapidly build scale in the country." Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has championed China ties, visiting Beijing in November where he held talks with President Xi Jinping and welcoming the Chinese Premier Li Qiang to Jakarta in May. Investment from China and Hong Kong into Indonesia was up 6.5% year-on-year to $8.2 billion in the first six months of 2025. Total FDI grew 2.58% over the same period to 432.6 trillion rupiah ($26.56 billion), and the government has said it expects more investments in the second half of the year. MASSIVE CONSUMER MARKET To be sure, challenges persist across Indonesia, including regulatory hurdles, bureaucratic red tape, ownership restrictions, deficient infrastructure and the lack of a complete industrial supply chain that made China the "workshop of the world" for decades. Some foreign investors have also raised concerns about the populist Prabowo's fiscal prudence, as he pushes ahead with his campaign promises, including a flagship programme to deliver free meals to schoolchildren and pregnant women. After falling in March to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since June 1998, the rupiah has steadied. It is currently trading about 1% below its level at the end of last year. At the sprawling, more than 2,700 hectare (6,672 acres) Subang Smartpolitan industrial park in West Java, executives said it had been inundated with enquiries from Chinese investors. "Our phone, email and WeChat were immediately busy with new customers, agents wanting to introduce clients," once the U.S.-Indonesia trade deal was announced last month, said Abednego Purnomo, vice-president for sales, marketing and tenant relations of Suryacipta Swadaya, Subang Smartpolitan's operator. "Coincidentally, all of them were from China." Companies ranging from toy makers and textile firms to electric vehicle makers are scouring for facilities, particularly in West Java, the most populous province in Indonesia, which is home to the Patimban deep sea port. Chinese demand has pushed up prices of industrial real estate and warehouses by 15% to 25% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, the fastest rise in 20 years, according to Gao, from the land consulting firm. Rivan Munansa, the head of industrial and logistics services at the Indonesian arm of global property consultant Colliers International said that there was an urgency among Chinese firms to move and the company was getting inquiries for industrial land "almost every day" in the run-up to the tariff agreement. "Most of them (Chinese companies) are looking for immediate opportunities. So, they want land and a temporary building that can be used immediately, it's like a crash programme,' Rivan said. Zhang said he signed up for a new four-floor office building in Jakarta in May at an annual rent of 100,000 yuan ($13,936), up 43% from last year, underscoring the pent-up demand. "The 19% level is lower than my expectation. I thought it would be 30%," Zhang said, referring to Indonesia's tariff deal and adding that net profit margins in China could be as little as 3%. "In Indonesia, it's relatively easy to achieve net profit margins of 20% to 30%." And then there's the growing pool of consumers with household spending making up more than half of Indonesia's GDP. The gauge accelerated slightly to 4.97% year-on-year in the second quarter, helped by several public holidays. "Indonesia has always stood out for a different reason. Beyond supply chain diversification, Indonesia offers what few others in the regions can: a massive domestic market," said Marco Foster, ASEAN director at Dezan Shira & Associates, an investment consultancy. ($1 = 7.1756 Chinese yuan renminbi) ($1 = 16,285.0000 rupiah) (Reporting By Beijing Newsroom; Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta and Casey Hall in Shanghai; Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu in Hanoi; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Kate Mayberry) Sign in to access your portfolio