Dubai - An injured cheetah was captured on Sunday while prowling among residential villas in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, according to an animal activist.
Raghad Auttabashi of the Al Rahma Animal 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.
It's not clear how the cheetah got free in Abu Dhabi's Karama district, a short drive from the gleaming skyscrapers that line the capital's waterfront. Auttabashi said some residents keep pets - occasionally including exotic animals - on the roofs of their villas. She speculated it might have broken free and hurt its paw by leaping from its owner's home.
Animal control authorities rounded up the cheetah, which was later handed over to a wildlife conservation centre, Auttabashi said. Photographs she took at the scene showed the spotted animal being held in a cage in the back of a van with its injured paw held off the ground.
Cheetahs are the fastest land animals and once lived across wide areas of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But they are no longer believed to have any native habitats on the Arabian peninsula.
They are listed as a vulnerable species, meaning they are at risk of becoming endangered. International trade in the animals is restricted, though some limited export is allowed from certain African countries.
It's not the first time an exotic animal has been found roaming streets in the Emirates.
In December, a cheetah was captured near a mosque in Sharjah, the emirate just north of Dubai. Witnesses saw that cat swimming off a port and then prowling past a hotel and offices.
Thai authorities arrested an Emirati citizen at Bangkok's international airport earlier this month after they found drugged baby leopards, panthers, monkeys and a bear in his suitcases. Authorities there believe he is part of a wildlife trafficking network. - Sapa-AP