‘Dhab massacre’ sparks outrage

A photograph of dead lizards posted on Internet sites caused outrage in Hail yesterday.
The photo showed what can be termed a “dhab massacre,” in reference to the killing of lizards of the ‘Agamidae Uromastyx’ species.
The photo was taken by a mobile phone camera yesterday and was widely circulated the same day.
The photo shows dead lizards at the back of a pickup truck. The current season is the time of the year when sportsmen go dhab hunting.
“We call for the establishment of an environment police to protect the wildlife in Saudi Arabia,” said Muhsen Al-Hazimi, chairman of the Health and Environmental Affairs Commission at the Shoura Council.
The Saudi Wildlife Authority (WLA) has said that this represents an act of killing and is a crime.
“A person who fills the back of his car with these animals must be looked at differently because what he did was a crime. The punishments established by law are not severe enough for such a crime,” said Ahmad Al Bouq, spokesman for the WLA.