by AFP – BEIRUT:
An animal rights group in Lebanon is caring for three dehydrated,
maggot-infested Siberian tiger cubs that were rescued on their way to a
zoo in neighboring war-ravaged Syria. Animals Lebanon said
Saturday that its members rescued the cubs earlier this week after they
had spent more than a week cooped up inside a cramped crate in
“unacceptable” conditions at the Beirut airport. The cubs flew into Lebanon from Ukraine on March 7 and were supposed to travel on to a zoo in neighboring Syria.

Instead,
due to apparent confusion about their travel arrangements, they spent a
week inside the wooden crate at the Beirut airport, said Animals
Lebanon’s Vice President Maggie Shaarawi. “Everything was wrong.
There was no tray in the crate for when they urinate. They were swimming
in their feces and urine. There was no bowl for water,” Shaarawi told
AFP. Images published by Animals Lebanon show the weak cubs,
covered in maggots and faeces, squirming in the small crate as
volunteers from the group work to crack open the box.

The crate
is screwed together, with just small holes for ventilation. Its volume
is barely a third of a cubic metre (11 cubic feet), according to the
NGO. When the group heard about the shipment, they began
petitioning the Ministry of Agriculture to investigate the conditions
and apply relevant international and Lebanese conventions. In
July, Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry issued a decree to stop the
trafficking of big cats – like lions, tigers, and pumas – and force zoos
to register formally. Lebanon has also been a member of the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which
regulates the trade of exotic animals, since 2013. After a week
at the airport, Judge Hasan Hamdan ordered the cubs to be released to
Animals Lebanon “because of significant concerns for their health and
welfare,” the group said.

“It took the combined efforts of the
ministry of agriculture, customs, and a judge to stop this shipment,”
said Animals Lebanon president Lana el-Khalil. “It is completely
unacceptable that these animals have been trapped for seven days in a
cage which is soaked in faeces and urine, too small for them to stand,
and infested with maggots.” AFP obtained a copy of the CITES
permit licensing a “private entrepreneur” in Ukraine with the export of
the cubs to the “Samer Alehsenawi Zoo” outside Damascus. The
permit says it “is only valid if the transport conditions conform to the
CITES guidelines,” which Animals Lebanon says was not the case. Shaarawi
would not specify where the cubs were located, but said they would
remain in the NGO’s care until a court decides “on whether they are
returned to the owner.” The trade of big cats is big business in
Lebanon, where the animals are often locked in cramped cages, forced to
perform in local circuses, and paraded by wealthy individuals as status
symbols.