Chasing Waterfalls

This was going to be an exciting week. XPRESS reporters were readied to pose as buyers for an exotic animal that was advertised in the local press.

“All papers and documents provided”, said the advertisement. The excitement of sealing the illegal sale reached a crescendo as the team got together to go make a bid for the animal.

Conversations on the telephone with the so-called seller told us that he had had many callers and the highest bidder was a western woman offering up to Dh60,000.The seller however was hoping for more.

Why was he selling it? It was an unwanted gift.

The day of the rendezvous arrives. Our reporters are out there recorders and digital cameras at the ready.

The exotic animal turns out to be a tiny mangy beast with its fur falling out. It belonged at the vet’s and not in the tiny cage the poor thing was being held in.

There were no papers, the seller was a middleman and when we wanted to take a picture we were busted.

With the truth out that we were reporters not buyers all the walls came down.

The point I’m trying to make here is that every week XPRESS reporters work hard to bring you the stories beyond the news.

This time however because we did not have the fundamentals of the story: first-hand quotes, the real seller, a picture, proof of sale, we could not get you the story.

Our reporters were heart-broken when the decision to drop the story was made. However they have refused to give up and have sworn that in time they will get to the bottom of the matter.

The UAE is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This sale is illegal but we could not prove it and the onus of proof rests on us.

Please accept our apologies. But, if you know of instances in the illegal trade of animals please let us know because it will ensure that our young team will make a foray into the wilderness to find our man.

Nirmala Janssen
editor@alnisrmedia.com
www.xpress4me.com/letters