Police arrested an undisclosed number of persons and took away over 40 horses and ponies Saturday following complaints from the public concerning individuals offering pony rides at the Jeddah Corniche. Officials, who said that the persons charging for horse and quad bike rides were in breach of labor and residency laws, set up surveillance several days prior to the arrests and identified their places of residence and where the animals were housed. According to police, the horses were kept at isolated abandoned yards in the south of Jeddah where they were provided with stables, food and water, and the arrests were made as handlers returned to the sites. The horses were later taken by mayoralty officials to be cared for at Al-An'aam Zoo in the Al-Rihab district. Saudi Gazette reported on April 23 that Jeddah Corniche horse handlers were mostly of Yemeni and African nationality and that they paid monthly rents to the animals' owners. The report, which described the horses and ponies as “badly treated, poorly fed, and put to work for over 12 hours a day”, quoted one owner as saying that he hired out each horse for a minimum of SR600 per month. A police officer told the Gazette that the handlers were working illegally and that attempting to arrest them caused “more danger to beach visitors than letting them continue working”. Occasional arrests, the officer said, failed to address the problem as “the number of these Africans and Yemenis is increasing”. “We can't do this job alone,” the police officer said. “We need people to understand that these men are working here illegally and are not complying with health and safety regulations.” Jeddah Police chief Misfir Al-Ju'aid said after Sunday's arrests that operations would continue in order to rid the Corniche of such practices. “We would ask the public to refrain from encouraging people who are in breach of regulations,” Al
