Feline park plan deserves praise

A reader Laud's Dubai's effort to rehabilitate stray cats. Other topics: Indian schools, technology, fitness, recycling

A reader praises Dubai’s plan for a Dh2 million park for stray cats. Lee Hoagland / The National

I am glad to know that Dubai's stray cats will get a new home (Feline Park in Dubai will be the cat's whiskers, September 7).

I love cats and I have adopted three of them from my area. There are many other people in the UAE who do the same because they don’t want these animals to suffer. But maintenance is expensive. There is another problem: sometimes we do not find a place to keep our pets when we go on vacation.

One of my colleagues adopted some stray cats two years ago. He could not find a place to keep them while going on vacation, so he decided to leave them in his air-conditioned home with sufficient food and water. When he returned, he found all of them dead.

This is a big problem for expatriates who adopt pets. I hope the new centre will help solve this issue.

I would also like to thank Mahin Bahrami, the founder of the Feline Park project, for thinking about the animals.

Sukumar S, India

Indian schools need to introduce humanities

I would like to bring to the notice of the education authorities in Abu Dhabi a problem faced by many children in Indian schools, including my son.

In a few months he will enter high school. He wants to specialise in humanities, but Indian schools here do not offer that option.

As far as I know, there are only a few schools in Dubai and Sharjah where this option is available. So he will be forced to take either science or commerce.

Year after year children are left to chose between these two streams, which creates a big problem for them. This issue needs to be sorted out.

Name withheld by request

Use technology to curb bad driving

I am commenting on your article A third of UAE drivers admit using phone at wheel, (September 3). I believe we should be looking at the possibility of using dashboard cameras to supply the police with evidence of wrongdoers on the road.

These cameras would run whenever you are driving and when you witness a case of poor driving, the evidence could be sent electronically directly to the police for action. How many times have you witnessed inconsiderate driving and wished you could report this to the police? Dash cams could have a dramatic effect at low cost.

Brian Martin, Dubai

Fitness facilities are expensive

The measures to cut childhood obesity are laudable (New rules for school meals to cut obesity, September 4). I am not a mother, but I see how obesity is a problem in this country. I myself gained a whole lot of weight in my two years here and that lead me to depression. This is another thing that needs to be addressed.

Rejane Serao, Dubai

It is true that many options are available in this country to stay healthy, but those with modest income find most of those options unaffordable (Take the first step to a healthy lifestyle, September 4). In many middle class neighbourhoods, children have no place to play, but when it comes to fast food outlets, there is no dearth of them.

P Joseph, Abu Dhabi

Recycling has many benefits

I refer to the article UAE office made from shipping containers (September 1). The concept of modular construction has been well established in the European and American markets and utilising used shipping containers not only saves time and money, but speaks to the three "Rs": reduce, reuse and recycle. At World Petroleum Partnership, we have developed the concept of modular retail outlets to implement c-stores, using the same concept. We are already utilising the containerised concept to build out our integrated mobile petrol stations (IMPs), which combines double-hull tanks with pumps and dispensers to deliver petrol stations to the market safely, quickly and cost effectively.

Randall Mohammed, Dubai

I love everything that is well thought-out and environment-friendly. I found to my great delight a pair of jogging trousers made from recycled plastic bottles last week and, of course, bought it. It’s made in Sri Lanka.

Brigitte von Bulow, Abu Dhabi