Raghad Auttabashi of the Al-Rahma Welfare and Rescue Society said the big cat appeared to be seven or eight months old and had an injured front left paw. It also had a broken metal chain around its neck, suggesting it was being kept as a pet.

She says it was rounded up Sunday by animal control authorities in a residential neighborhood and has been handed over to a wildlife conservation center. Another cheetah was captured on the prowl in Sharjah in December. Cheetahs are no longer believed to have any native habitats on the Arabian peninsula.