Animal rights groups fight for stricter legislation, change in public opinion
By Natacha Khalife
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, November 30, 2009
BEIRUT: A woman enters the veterinary clinic of Animals Lebanon (AL), holding a cage in which a red-haired, blue-eyed kitten is loudly meowing. The red-faced woman is screaming; she seems angry. She comes to the front desk of the clinic, opens the cage and throws the kitten at an AL volunteer before leaving and slamming the door.
"We demanded she bring back this kitten that she adopted here," said Safa Hojeij, one of the founders of AL. A brown kitten with a skin infection is sleeping in her arms, and she adds that the same woman also adopted this kitten. However, a volunteer saw the woman this morning throw this kitten in a trash can.
"We do not want our animals to be treated like that, even if it means that we have to take them back to the clinic," she said.
This episode embodies the typical Lebanese mentality concerning animals that AL and Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (BETA) are fighting against, said Jason Mier, executive director of AL, and Nathalie Semaan, a volunteer in BETA.
However, two special stories have recently raised interest for animals in Lebanon, said Hojeij and Semaan. In February, AL helped to close an entire zoo where animals were neglected and underfed. It took six months of negotiations with the owner to rescue the 42 animals of the zoo, said Hojeij. "This brought a huge amount of awareness to the issue of zoos in the Middle East," said Mier.
Then, two months ago, a sick and mistreated lion was found almost dead in a small cage covered by a tarpaulin sheets in the Karantina area of Beirut by BETA, said Semaan. This case was extraordinary because it was the first time in Lebanon that a judge issued a decision to remove an animal from its owners because of mistreatment. The lion, named Adam, died one week ago.
These stories triggered a wave of solidarity for animals, said Semaan. After the story of the zoo, donations for AL exploded, said Hojeij.
"In 12 months … we raised $144,000," said Mier. BETA also noticed a rise of donations following the story of the lion, said Semaan.
Moreover, more and more people have been attending the events organized the associations. On World Animals Day on October 4, about 100 people walked with 25 dogs in the streets of Downtown Beirut, said Semaan.
Lana al-Khalil, president of AL, is the ambassador of World Animal Day in Lebanon, so AL was very involved in this event, trying to create a bond between animals and people, said Hojeij. "World Animal Day was a great success," she added.
The number of people in BETA's Facebook group also reflects the Lebanese growing involvement in animal welfare. After Adam the lion was found, the number of members on BETA's Facebook group doubled, said Semaan. The Facebook group of BETA counts 416 members, and Animals Lebanon has 653 fans.
In spite of this rising awareness, improving animal welfare in Lebanon still faces a lot of difficulties. Only one law protects animals in Lebanon; if someone is caught mistreating an animal, she or he has to pay a fine of LL10,000.
"It is ridiculous – LL10,000 is nothing," said Semaan.
Lebanon's legislature is behind a lot of countries concerning animals' rights.
AL is campaigning for Lebanon to sign the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments, which aims to ensure that "international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival," said the CITES Web site.
BETA, meanwhile, is seeking to extend legal protection for animals to include regulations as laid down by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
"WSPA is a program which contains about 200 pages of regulations and laws to protect animals, and Lebanon does not even follow one of them," Semaan said.
Lebanon's law makers should also create regulations concerning the running of pet shops, said Semaan.
The majority of pet shops in Lebanon are just economically focused and not concerned about their animals' welfare, said Shadi Tarek, a veterinarian and owner of a pet shop.
"They just want to sell and do not care about what's going to happen to the animal," he added. To open a pet shop, people should have a license, added Hojeij.
People's mentality also holds back the progress of animals' rights in Lebanon.
"People teach their kids that beating an animal makes them stronger," said Semaan. Even if some people are joining the animal's cause, many still doubt the importance of the matter, said Hojeij.
To remedy the animals' bad treatment the associations focus on awareness, hoping that changing mentality will lead to a modification of laws. AL and BETA organize a lot of programs to foster a love of animals among Lebanese citizens, said Hojeij.
BETA runs a community service where children from the International College come to the group's shelters of to take the dogs on a walk, said Semaan. For its part, AL has five school children volunteers, said Hojeij.
Informing prospective pet owners of the realities of caring for animals is also used to change attitudes.
People do not really realize the difficulties of having animals, said Hojeij.
"When someone comes in my pet shop to buy an animal, I first scare him or her by compiling all the difficulties that an animal implicates. If she or he still wants to buy the animal, it means that they're ready," said Tarek.
Advertisements also play a great role in raising the awareness of Lebanese people concerning animals.
"In the last 12 months we have had tens of thousands of radio spots, more than 50,000 flyers and brochures distributed, and this definitely gets more people interested and talking," said Mier.
To inform a broader spectrum of the population, AL and BETA organize publicity events, said Hojeij and Semaan.
"Events are a way to touch people that usually do not care about animals," added Hojeij. Thus AL organized parties to sensitize the young generation about animals, said Hojeij.
The groups hold parties at private houses and venues such as Snatch and B018, said Mier. As well as raising awareness, these events are also a way to earn money for the association, said Hojeij.
But the groups also take more concrete measures to directly improve animals' welfare.
One of the main proceedings of AL and BETA is the Trap-Neuter-Return program, said Semaan and Hojeij. This consists of trapping a cat or a dog in the street, neutering the animal to prevent breeding, releasing the animal where it was found and providing basic food and water for the animal to live safely, said Hojeij.
BETA and AL also take abandoned animals that cannot have a high quality of life in the street and put them in shelters when they can.
"We currently have 55 animals in our care – most in the shelter," said Mier.
BETA at this time puts up 240 dogs. Animals in shelters are vaccinated, neutered and put up for adoption. Adopting a cat cost $40, and a dog costs $80.
"In the last year we got about 210 cats and dogs adopted," said Mier. BETA has found homes for about 500-700 dogs since 2004, added Semaan.
But the fight always goes on. AL was behind a pre-release of the movie New Moon on Monday at the Galaxy cinema in Beirut, three days before its official date of release. Half of the ticket price was donated to the association.
The next event will be the Beirut Marathon on December 6, where 10 percent of the donations will head to AL.
It is a lot of effort, but animals are important and deserve this fight, said Hojeij. Moreover, they contribute to the overall well-being of people, she added.
"It is very simple – proper animal welfare standards help relieve poverty, improve human health and increase respect for the general rule of law," said Mier.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=109223
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 By the time they arrive dawn was breaking and Chris spotted the bobcat laying on the curb, with her head up, watching oncoming traffic whiz past her just inches away. Carole pulled the van up to block traffic in the right lane, turned on the flashers and then circled around the outside of the van while Chris crept closer on the curb side. The bobcat stood and glanced around at her options. It looked like she was going to dive under the van and in morning rush hour traffic that would surely mean her death as the duo could only approach her from the wrong side if that happened. Carole lunged toward the bobcat in an attempt to cause her to back into the field rather than into traffic and much to both her and Chris' amazement the bobcat sprinted across the field on three legs. Rescuers reasoned that they could trap her against the fence at the far end of the field but the bobcat had a better plan...run like mad for the fence but then take a hard right, jump into the creek to throw her pursuers off the track and then dash off through the heavy undergrowth. Since the Rescuers didn't see her come out the other side of the creek, Chris headed across and up the far bank while Carole dragged the bottom of the creek with her net in case the bobcat had not been able to swim. The temperature was 52 degrees and the water was bone chillingly cold. Chris and Carole beat the bushes around a large retention pond, and Chris discovered a recent bird kill. There was a well worn path that lead to the area from the road, so it was clear that this bobcat has made this trek across 6 lanes of traffic for a long time. After circling the lake twice Carole was about to suggest they go home, dress in dry clothes and come back with humane traps and a bigger search force, when Chris called out that he found the bobcat. She had crawled under a pad of reeds next to the pond. When they tried to net her she took off into the water again, Chris dove in after her and managed to net her. For that he gets to name her. She was then transported to Ehrlich Road Animal Hospital where Dr. Wynn met them to take over in her diagnosis and care. She had an old wound on her side that was raw and exposed. She had scraped her nose during the impact and x-rays showed that her left rear leg was broken in such a way that traditional pinning would not be sufficient to repair the damage, due to her wild nature and impulse to chew her leg off, rather than have an exterior plate to secure the pins. Dr. Wynn tested her for AIDS to make sure she would be a candidate for release and then called Florida Veterinary Services to ask if they could get her in for major surgery. This $2800. - $4000. surgery will be performed today and will do all of the repairs internally so there is nothing external for her to gnaw at and re-injure herself. Her tail was broken, completely separated and de-gloved so it will have to be amputated. Dr. Wynn cleaned out her wound and installed a drain. She did all of the prep work she could to save time this afternoon as long as the bobcat was asleep. The bobcat appears to be a healthy, young female with a good prognosis of surviving surgery. The real question now will be if her leg can heal sufficiently for her to again run free. |
