12 things you can only see in Dubai – #3 will make you go gaga

12. Cops In Lamborghinis And Bugattis

Many cities all over the world have a problem with street racing teens and tweens. In Dubai, though, the stakes are higher when so many of those teens have access to supercars and they can take their street racing to professional levels in Ferraris and Porsches.

Naturally, your average Ford Crown Victoria that police departments in the United States seem to prefer just isn’t going to cut it when the car in pursuit is clocking up to 186 miles per hour (a true to life speed that Dubai police released to the media this summer).

Dubai’s supercar force is undoubtedly the envy of every street cop in the world, with a fleet that includes a 1,000 horsepower Bugatti Veyron, an Aston Martin, a Lamborghini Aventador, and a few Ferrari FFs, which for some reason are only driven by the women on the force. When they catch Dubai’s errant teens, the fines can run to nearly $30,000 for the drivers, which is yet another source of revenue for Dubai’s already fat coffers.

11. A Man And His Cheetah, Or Tiger, Or Lion…

Somehow, his robes are impeccably white and neatly pressed, and the luxurious leather interior of his vehicle seem unscratched and free of hair. Yet, the cheetah in the passenger seat seems a little bored with the excursion through downtown Dubai, and the driver looks a little distracted by his texting.

In the United States and most of what we dub the Western world, there are laws and several layers of legislation that prevent humans and big cat predators from living their lives together in such casual freedom. However, this doesn’t seem to be a problem in Dubai.

In fact, there isn’t a problem with monkeys, tigers, or even lions. The rule is basically, anything goes. Up untill now, the residents of Dubai have been known to keep any and all sorts of animals as pets, with the only stipulations being municipal registration and up-to-date vaccinations.

New legislation proposed in the summer of 2016 would institute licensing and leash laws with a hefty fine and even jail time for offenders. There’s also some talk of a total ban on so-called exotic pets, so the clock may be ticking on this particular “only-in-Dubai” phenomenon.