Sunday 15 / June / 2025
Muscat: Expats leaving Oman are dumping their pets on the streets and rescuing them costs thousands, animal welfare groups say.
Rescuers are pleading with residents not to abandon their pets when they leave Oman, and to treat beloved pets with dignity.
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Omani Paws, one of the largest animal rescue organisations in Oman, rescues up to 200 stray and abandoned pets every year since they began operations nearly four years ago.
“We rescue easily between 150 and 200 animals every year,” said Varsha Karnik, one of the founding members of the organisation. “When we first rescue an animal, it can get pretty costly because we have to take it to the vet and conduct all the medical procedures. It’s the re-homing of these animals which is difficult, and although we do try to find good families for them in Oman, we sometimes have to send them abroad and because we also feed them a good diet and provide shelter for them, it can cost up to OMR500 a pet.”
Transporting a pet can cost anywhere between OMR200 and 300 on airfare alone, in addition to all of the medical procedures required by authorities from the country of destination, she added.
All of these procedures have to be completed and verified before pet owners leave Oman, and this can be quite time consuming and expensive.
Given the number of pets taken in by Omani Paws volunteers, the cost of nursing abandoned and stray animals can run as high as OMR75,000 a year, and although the organisation does try to meet their funding needs through donations and fundraisers, Varsha says awareness is the key to solving this problem.
“The problem is that the people who abandon their pets don’t really think of them as family members, but more as a toy or a plaything,” added Varsha, who also works at Al Qurum Veterinary Clinic. A lot of the times, the pets are left behind because it’s quite expensive to get them out of the country, and people don’t want to pay that.
“It is very important for families to treat their pets as one of their own,” she explained. “Don’t abandon them. If you do need to find them a new home, let us know so we can be of help. I currently have about 17 dogs and 13 cats at home, and am trying to find many of them good families to live with.”
Jaison Mathai is founder of Tiger By The Tails, another rescue organisation that tries to re-home animals. The five core members spend about OMR500 to 600 from their own pockets on a monthly basis.
“We primarily work with cats needing rehabilitation,” he told Times of Oman. “We have had instances of cats locked up in houses and left to fend for themselves. The problem is that once they are used to conditions of safety and comfort, they don’t know how to survive in the wild, and they are attacked by other cats.
“We’ve had cases of exotic cats such as long-haired Persian cats suffering from skin diseases and eye infections because they have forgotten how to take care of themselves,” added Mathai. “If they do contract skin diseases, it can take up to a year for them to fully heal. In addition, when we first try to treat them, they attempt to run away from us because they are scared of treating them the same way their previous owners did.”
Mathai asked people not to abandon these animals, who had given them unconditional love and asked for little in return.
“If you want a pet at home, I would advise you to adopt, because there are so many of them that require a loving home,” he added. Residents in Oman also asked their fellow expats to show compassion towards their pets, and treat them as members of the family.
Melania D’Mello, who adopted two dogs with her husband, Aaron, called for greater awareness among residents in Oman.
“I think this happens because there is a lack of awareness towards animal welfare, and there needs to be more of a push towards this,” she said. “Imagine if your family member were to be put in such a situation. You would never do this to them, so we need to treat our pets the same way.”
“I love my dogs, and I treat them as I would my children,” said Krystal Brown, a resident in Oman. “Someone tried to buy them off of me recently, but I would never part with them.
“To those who are concerned about the expenses towards their pets, I would advise them to set up a bank account, and put money in it towards their eventual move, because most expats in Oman will leave eventually, and then they will need to consider the welfare of their pets.”
