Dubai resident turns home into animal refuge

DUBAI // Ayesha Kelaif's childhood was a lonely one. She was born in Sri Lanka to a British father and Portuguese-Dutch mother who died when she was two. She was raised in Sri Lanka with her sisters and brother, spending the happiest days of her childhood caring for animals; some pets, some rescued. When she was nine, her father also died, from cancer, and she moved with a sister and the sister's husband to Taipei, while her other siblings were taken to the United States by their aunt.

"We all got split up," Mrs Kelaif, 47, said. "I missed my parents and siblings terribly. It was a lonely childhood. I was moved from house to house and never had a chance to establish long friendships with people, but there were always animals around, cats or dogs, and I found comfort in talking and crying to them. They were my friends and companions and I felt indebted to them." When she was 18, Mrs Kelaif moved with her sister and her sister's husband to Dubai, the next year meeting her future Emirati husband, Mohammed Nasib, then 24. After they married, Mrs Kelaif and her husband moved into his parents' home, but she longed for a place of their own.

"I used to get in trouble with my mother-in-law when we were living in Al Safa because I was always bringing home abandoned and injured animals," Mrs Kelaif said. "I told my husband that one day when we bought our own villa I would set up an animal rescue centre in it." Eleven years ago, Mrs Kelaif's dream came true when she and her husband moved into their own home in Al Barsha. With that the Dubai Animal Rescue Centre was founded for abused, injured and abandoned animals.

At the last count there were 172 animals sharing the home with Mrs Kelaif, her husband and their 11-year-old son, Khalifa. "I have 14 dogs, 18 cats, two Shetland ponies, three alpacas, three ferrets, 16 green iguanas, three peacocks, eight ducks, four guinea fowl, two deer, a goat, two gazelles and many, many more," she said, laughing. Some are permanent residents, while others - like the alpacas - are up for adoption to a suitable home or farm. The animals come from all over: rescued from farms where they had been suffering, brought in after they were found abandoned, or turned in by owners who could no longer care for them.

To house all the animals, Mrs Kelaif has rigged up a facility that rivals the most sophisticated government or non-government shelters in the country. The main house is like any other Emirati home, clean and orderly. The first sign that something is out of the ordinary comes when she opens a partition separating the entrance hall from the back of the house, and seven dogs rush in, followed by a kitten, unfazed by the stampede.

"I rescued that kitten from Sheikh Zayed Road," Mrs Kelaif said. "She was three days old when I brought her home. She thinks she is one of the dogs." In the back yard are numerous air-conditioned cabins housing the animals. Mrs Kelaif estimates that between veterinary bills and the air-conditioned enclosures, food, toys and equipment, she has spent in excess of Dh600,000. "I have a full-time job in Dubai, which pays me a salary of Dh19,000 a month," she said. "I give some money to my son and daughter who are in college abroad, some to three children I am sponsoring in Palestine and the rest I spend on my animals."

Mr Kelaif is also an animal lover and drives to Hatta, Oman, every Friday to purchase a dozen crates of fruits and vegetables for the animals. "My husband knows how much I love my animals and he does too," Mrs Kelaif said. "The only rule is that the dogs don't come upstairs because that's where he prays and reads the Quran." Mrs Kelaif hopes to expand her rescue centre and to have a branch in every emirate. The centre offers tours for children as well as animals for adoption through its website, www.darcuae.com.

@Email:ealghalib@thenational.ae