There are more than 500 dogs and 150 cats at the rescue centre in Beirut

While Israeli jets
pounded Lebanon in the summer of 2006 in its brief war against
Hezbollah, John Barrett was breaking into abandoned pet shops to rescue
starving animals in cages. “It was an emotional time,” he says.
“Often we would ask Lebanese people in the bombed south to also take
their dogs off their hands… and they would agree only on the condition
that we took a child as well”.

Then, as a warden of the British
embassy in Beirut, he appeared to have found his vocation – finding new
homes for over 300 dogs and cats left behind by fleeing British expats. Remarkably,
he managed to find the funding to charter a 747 airliner to get them to
America, where they were taken in by new owners. That act was the
start of what would eventually become a voluntary organisation called
Beta (Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

But now, 10 years later, the organisation he founded is facing its own abyss – struggling to house 500 dogs and over 150 cats.

‘Show-off factor’

For
the past two years, traditional supporters – mainly from the US and
Canada – have stopped sending money, resulting in Beta facing possible
closure due to mounting debt from food suppliers.

Just recently a
campaign raised over $50,000 (£40,000), mainly from Lebanese sponsors,
but Mr Barrett does not know if Beta can carry on, as its running costs
are around $10,000 per month.

He
believes that the Syria war is chiefly to blame for a drop in
individual funding from the US, as people prioritise sending money to
groups which support Syrian refugees.

Image copyright
Martin Jay

The economic cost of the influx of almost two
million refugees has also indirectly fuelled a rise in the number of
abandoned dogs.

Unregulated dog-selling – a fast-buck business –
has led to a growth in breeding farms, and dog-fighting rings have also
increased – booming ventures at a time of financial uncertainty.

“It’s all business,” says Mr Barrett, with a wave of his hand.

He
is particularly contemptuous of irresponsible pet owners, citing cases
of dogs being bought for a child but becoming a burden, with new owners
even unaware of the need to toilet-train puppies or take dogs on daily
walks.

The result is a gargantuan number of dogs – around 40,000, according to Beta – on the streets in this tiny country.

“Most people want pure bred dogs, it’s the ‘show-off’ factor. A huge problem here,” he says.

“Impulse
buying is a real problem and the Lebanese are really affected by Paris
Hilton and other celebrities as they like to copy the stars. All the
people I know who have dogs tell me that they bought if from South
Africa or Russia. Showing off is a big part of it.”

The problem is
with a section of Lebanese society – as the amount donated to Beta’s
recent campaign shows, many Lebanese care that animals are well-looked
after.

‘Acts of cruelty’

Beta’s dog pound was previously a pig farm in Beit Meri in the hills overlooking Beirut.

It looks ramshackle and, like many of its residents, abandoned and unloved.

Helena
Hesayne, an architect who gives most of her time to working for Beta,
is excitedly greeted by many of the dogs, whom she knows by name.

While Israeli jets pounded Lebanon
in the summer of 2006 in its brief war against Hezbollah, John Barrett
was breaking into abandoned pet shops to rescue starving animals in
cages.

“It was an emotional time,” he says. “Often we would ask
Lebanese people in the bombed south to also take their dogs off their
hands… and they would agree only on the condition that we took a child
as well”.

Then, as a warden of the British embassy in Beirut, he
appeared to have found his vocation – finding new homes for over 300
dogs and cats left behind by fleeing British expats.

Remarkably,
he managed to find the funding to charter a 747 airliner to get them to
America, where they were taken in by new owners.

That act was the
start of what would eventually become a voluntary organisation called
Beta (Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

But now, 10 years later, the organisation he founded is facing its own abyss – struggling to house 500 dogs and over 150 cats.

‘Show-off factor’

For
the past two years, traditional supporters – mainly from the US and
Canada – have stopped sending money, resulting in Beta facing possible
closure due to mounting debt from food suppliers.

Just recently a
campaign raised over $50,000 (£40,000), mainly from Lebanese sponsors,
but Mr Barrett does not know if Beta can carry on, as its running costs
are around $10,000 per month.

He
believes that the Syria war is chiefly to blame for a drop in
individual funding from the US, as people prioritise sending money to
groups which support Syrian refugees.

The economic cost of the influx of almost two million refugees has
also indirectly fuelled a rise in the number of abandoned dogs.

Unregulated
dog-selling – a fast-buck business – has led to a growth in breeding
farms, and dog-fighting rings have also increased – booming ventures at a
time of financial uncertainty.

“It’s all business,” says Mr Barrett, with a wave of his hand.

He
is particularly contemptuous of irresponsible pet owners, citing cases
of dogs being bought for a child but becoming a burden, with new owners
even unaware of the need to toilet-train puppies or take dogs on daily
walks.

The result is a gargantuan number of dogs – around 40,000, according to Beta – on the streets in this tiny country.

“Most people want pure bred dogs, it’s the ‘show-off’ factor. A huge problem here,” he says.

“Impulse
buying is a real problem and the Lebanese are really affected by Paris
Hilton and other celebrities as they like to copy the stars. All the
people I know who have dogs tell me that they bought if from South
Africa or Russia. Showing off is a big part of it.”

The problem is
with a section of Lebanese society – as the amount donated to Beta’s
recent campaign shows, many Lebanese care that animals are well-looked
after.

‘Acts of cruelty’

Beta’s dog pound was previously a pig farm in Beit Meri in the hills overlooking Beirut.

It looks ramshackle and, like many of its residents, abandoned and unloved.

Helena
Hesayne, an architect who gives most of her time to working for Beta,
is excitedly greeted by many of the dogs, whom she knows by name.

“We just rescued a dog which was being used as ‘bait’ for fighting
dogs in Saida, who will probably have to lose his leg,” she tells me.
“He’s too thin at the moment to operate on.”

“Recently an adult
man shot a dog in front of children, although often it’s the case that
men in Lebanon force children to do acts of cruelty against animals as a
way of toughening them up,” she explains.

One case, in which a
video clip showed a child being goaded to push a kitten off a roof-top,
was hotly debated on a local television programme.

Many of the
dogs which are rescued are sent to the US, where there is a better
chance of them finding new homes, Ms Hesayne says – especially dogs with
three legs.

On the day we meet, she is preparing to take six on an Air France flight to a new life in the States.

As we walk through the pen she recalls several of the dogs’ heartbreaking ordeals.

“This
one has a leg missing, that one was tortured, this one was shot. In
fact, we have a number of dogs who have bullet wounds from pistols,” she
adds calmly.

“The recent fund drive helped us pay about a third
of our food bill which was at about $120,000,” she says. “But we need
more adopters and more regular sponsors. The problem is that people
think we are rich just because we have 500 dogs and 150 cats, but it’s
not the case at all.”

Martin Jay is a journalist based in Beirut reporting for a number of British newspapers and Deutsche Welle TV. Follow him @MartinRJay