7 Days

Dubai, Jul 27: A vile video available for anyone to watch and filmed here in the UAE shows three young men setting fire to live chickens - and laughing as the helpless birds burn to death.

The disturbing footage was posted on the YouTube web site and carries a caption to say it was filmed in the Emirates.The young men, who look like  teenagers, light two chickens by holding a cigarette lighter to an aerosol can to make it spray flames.

As the birds run around engulfed in fire, the youngsters - wearing kanduras - make jokes in Arabic and fall about in fits of laughter.Each time the flames go out, the boys light the birds again and again until they are dead.

At the start of the film, the boys are shown repeatedly kicking the two chicks and laughing.

One of the teens is heard to say: “I swear to God you are crazy.”His friend ignores him and sets fire to the first of the two chickens.

“It’s still moving - it hasn’t died,” laughs one of them.The chicken is then torched repeatedly with their home-made flamethrower.

One of the yobs says: “God bless you,” to the bird as it dies. Another, apparently feeling guilty, says, “We will go to hell for torturing an animal.” But the thug recording the incident replies: “Shut up - don’t speak.”Obscene language is heard throughout the footage and one of the hoodlums jokes: “The bird is roasted if anyone wants to eat roast chicken.”The two-minute video, filmed at night in a yard, ends with the gang laughing over the charred corpses.

Dubai Municipality yesterday condemned the video and said it will investigate the barbaric act. Adil Badri, veterinary public health officer for the Municipality, described the gang as “philistines”. “Cruelty to animals like this is totally prohibited,” he said.“It is against the law and against Islamic laws - it has to stop.

“We will investigate by asking local people if they know any facts about this video and if they do, then we will take action.“We can stop people, confiscate their animals and follow the legal procedures until court.

“People who do these sort of things are philistines.”Guidelines on YouTube state: “Don’t post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, or bomb making.”If a viewer considers a video to be inappropriate they can request it to be removed by the moderator.

Police previously confirmed that anyone found deliberately hurting an animal could face a year in jail or a fine of dhs10,000.