LEBANON: Hundreds of homeless pets in Lebanon fly to their new homes in the United States

About 300 homeless dogs and cats were making their way to new home sanctuaries in the United States on Monday (September 25, 2006). Many of the homeless pets were left behind by owners who fled Lebanon during the 34-day Hizbollah-Israeli war. The pets were airlifted from the capital Beirut to the 'Best Friends' animal sanctuary, America's largest refuge for abused and abandoned pets. The pets, which will soon be available for adoption, will join about 2,000 other animals currently cared for at the no-kill sanctuary in Kanab, Utah three-and-a-half-hours outside of Las Vegas. Lebanon's Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (BETA) is the only animal rights group in the country and all three of its shelters were damaged during the bombing raids. "When 'Best Friends' heard the news that people were being evacuated, and there was only one organisation in Lebanon able to assist these animals, we started to look into it. We contacted BETA and at the same time, they were trying to contact us to see how we can help and what we found is they were the only organisation doing this and they were being overwhelmed by the number of animals so that is what started the process," said Richard Crock, 'Best Friends' coordinator. Sanctuary workers are building temporary housing for the dogs and cats, using materials donated last year to help with the rescue of homeless pets abandoned after Hurrican Katrina hit New Orleans. At the height of the war, the cats and dogs were evacuated to a small farm in the hills outside of Beirut. Once the fighting stopped, BETA began looking into finding new homes for these animals. "And now our dogs are leaving Monday, one hundred and fifty dogs and one hundred and fifty cats they are being adopted in the States. We are working with 'Best Friends' which is kind enough to help us in paying for it, to move the dogs from here to the States," said Elana Husseini of 'Best Friends'. The 'Best Friends' effort in Lebanon parallels what the society did just a year ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when it brought more than 6,000 animals out of the disaster zone and to new homes. Best Friends has also been assisting human groups in Israel, where people were also evacuated without their pets. But the major crisis for animals has been in Lebanon. Tens of thousands of foreigners or Lebanese with foreign passports left the country in July and August during the heavy fighting, many on the recommendations of their governments which organized evacuations by land or sea.

ITN Source | September 25, 2006

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