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2/1/07: Diary Of An American Animal Rescuer In LebanonFrom Kinship Circle, 2/1/07: We are currently corresponding with Joanne Greene, an American rescuer working with Beirut for the Ethical Treatment Animals (BETA) in Lebanon. Below are edited entries from Joanne’s eyewitness accounts of animal rescue in a war zone. Joanne asked Kinship Circle to expose these stories, so something can be done. Joanne Greene writes from Lebanon: “The merciless government poisoning and shooting campaign is routinely implemented. We are gathering contact information for [Kinship Circle] letters to help stop this slaughter. Government intervention is also needed for a huge captive primate crisis in Lebanon. Your activists are the help BETA has prayed for. Thank you again.” ABOUT JOANNE: Joanne Greene was a Katrina volunteer and first responder in Lakeview (New Orleans) who is in Beirut to help companion animals abandoned since the war began. Massive stray populations are targets in this conflict... Joanne joins BETA to feed these strays in “hot zones.” She says her undying dedication to animals led her from New Orleans to Beirut — much like Linda Nealon, the only other independent American to volunteer for animals in Beirut. Joanne notes: “BETA is not just fighting to save animals in a war zone, but also to change the way animals are treated in Lebanon. With Hezbollah on hand, the job is difficult and dangerous.” |
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Submitted to Kinship Circle 1/30/07, from Joanne Greene in Beirut SOURCE: Joanne Green, c/o helena@integral.com.lb in Beirut First morning in Beirut:
For Margo, who tends to BETA’s two cat shelters in downtown Beirut, things are even worse. Margo traverses the Army's checkpoints, just steps ahead of the fighting, burning tires and gun-wielding demonstrators. Her day is perilous; never knowing if she’ll make it back to the shelter. There is no food, water or medicine if she fails. As the day unfolds, we all wonder if Margo and the cats are safe... BETA faces these obstacles daily... along with municipalities that shoot and poison their animals... Where will my next day take me? Second day in Beirut: After what seems like hours spent in grid-locked traffic and chaos, we reach the shelter. Joelle swiftly unloads supplies and tends to the cats. Margo has miraculously sped through Beirut’s streets to return to the shelter — and even rescues a tiny kitten along the way! Margo risks her own life to scoop up a kitten caught in a surge of fleeing people. Somehow, Margo navigates the combat to ferry this kitten to a vet so she can place her in the shelter. But the vet has closed without warning. So Margo isolates the kitten in another BETA member’s home. She’ll try again tomorrow... By now, I join Helena to transport a worker from the dog shelter to his home. With curfew near, Helena’s Wrangler zips over smoldering barricades, some still in flames that prevent smaller cars from passing. Burning tires mask visibility. I cannot imagine how terrified and hungry the street strays are. Too dangerous for us to feed and the animals to eat, they’ve gone unfed for days... The worker arrives home safely and I too escape harm. BETA ends another harrowing day. Third day in Beirut: As the day proceeds, a volunteer asks for pick-up of a four-month old pup; another volunteer finds a yellow lab loose in her neighborhood; a college student pleads for a six dog pick-up. A man calls about a Great Dane who has been shot and beaten so viciously his right eye is blinded. Helena meets the man, who cannot afford medical treatment, at the vet. The dog’s fate is uncertain, as bullets are lodged internally and wounds are badly infected. Helena approves necessary surgery, but worries about the dog and how BETA will finance his care. Yet these are the lucky ones, plucked from streets teaming with strays, government-poisoned animals, war-abandoned pets... Later that day, Margo and I leave food at a few feeding stations. Margo wants to establish more stations, but cannot fund them on a regular basis. So she feeds animals as her budget permits and aches for the ones she cannot save... But today we feed, after days waiting out the crossfire. We go after dusk, so Hezbollah doesn’t notice us. At our first stop, across from Hezbollah tents, a weary cat limps toward the food. The cat’s injuries suggest collision with an automobile. BETA has no cat traps and must think quickly. So we position a small crate over the food pile and add more food. Though the cat enters our carrier, he bolts as soon as Margo approaches. We fear we’ve lost him. Fortunately, he returns and Margo closes the door behind him. We leave the rest of the food for other cats and depart with our crated cat before Hezbollah discovers us. Back at the shelter, we learn the soot-covered cat suffers from labored breathing due to prolonged exposure to burning rubber. His back appears broken. We hope he’ll survive till morning... Margo and I return to the tents to recheck feeding stations before calling it a night. The first two stations look good, but as we near the third, we meet a Hezbollah block that freezes city traffic. The men are armed with rifles and automatic weapons, forcing me to contemplate my own mortality. I cannot think outside this moment. But this is BETA’s daily reality and Margo instinctively maneuvers through barricades until we are safe — for now.
A horrid day in Beirut: Our hearts are heavy... But the day is not over. Margo and Joelle are replenishing food stations on the other side of Beirut when a garbage truck begins to lift a trash bin filled with panicked, stray cats. The trapped cats try to claw their way out. The drivers ignore Margo and Joelle’s cries and fatally crush the cats. The two BETA volunteers will go to their grave with the image of screaming, mashed cats. How can they make the world see this travesty? DONATE TO BERUIT FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (BETA) Bank Transfer Donations To BETA’s Account In Beirut: Joelle Kanaan, BETA cofounder, joelle_k@idm.net.lb KINSHIP CIRCLE RELATED LINKS:
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