Dubai club event questioned over monkey business

Vanity, a nightclub in Dubai's Al Murooj Rotana hotel, was yesterday being held to account on social media after photographs showing a monkey at one of its events circulated online.

The photos appeared to show the animal on a leash while wearing a t-shirt promoting the event - Blackout. One of the photos also appears to have the monkey being fed alcohol.

Commenters took to Facebook and Twitter to voice their displeasure at the photographs promoting the event, with many enquiring about the welfare of the animal.

Vanity eventually posted a message on its Facebook page to address the outrage: "a client visited the club and managed to sneak in his pet monkey without the knowledge of the staff."

The post went on to say that once alerted the staff members asked the client to leave immediately. It later added that the promoter for the event had been "terminated", although it is not clear at this time whether the event has been cancelled.

The Facebook page for BlackOut Dubai, which had the photographs on its stream, has since been taken offline. The post on Vanity's Facebook page has also been deleted.

Vanity later posted a second message hours after the first had been deleted: "We would like to state that Vanity Nightclub Dubai has never 'knowingly' allowed nor will allow any animals into our premises. Concerning the incident that occurred last Tuesday, the 27th January 2013, the owner along with his animal, were immediately removed from the premises once staff were alerted. The owner and his party that attended on the night have been banned from ever entering the venue again."

It went on to say: "We thank you all for expressing you're concerns and please be certain that we share the same view as everyone when it comes to the treatment of animals."

When contacted separately, a Vanity spokesperson said: "We did not hire or recruit a pet to be present in our venue; once this was brought to our attention we removed both the animal and its owner."

Commenting on the incident, a Murooj Rotana spokesperson said: "We deeply regret that this incident took place in Vanity Night Club, which is NOT managed by Al Murooj Rotana.

"This is definitely an unacceptable behaviour and against animal rights. The management of Vanity is dealing with this issue."