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Why people treat animals cruelly in Lebanon

The crisis here is much more about the psychological scars left over from the war

Animal rights is a heart wrenching issue here in Lebanon. Recently, a grotesque video posted by a sick individual, who kicks cats into the air, went viral. Then it was followed by a backlash from animal lovers, who did all they could to expose the individual, who I shall call "John S". This young man is clearly in need of psychotherapy. He quickly deleted all his social media accounts and changed his telephone number. He feared that mob justice might have caught up with him in a lawless country, full of handguns and no real legal framework, which the GCC countries enjoy.
Animal rights is really a sad subject. Here in Lebanon, it's not just about people buying pets and then abandoning them, or the ones who buy puppies or kittens as gifts for little girls. The crisis here is much more about the psychological scars left over from the war. It's as though abuse towards animals is an entirely natural by-product of sectarian conflict. When people for so long have treated one another so badly, it is inevitable that animals will be abused and used as tools by the deranged and ignorant to cope with the travails of modern life.
Today, in Lebanon it is common for men to force kids to throw cats off the roofs of apartment blocks to "toughen them up". It is common to find dogs chained to balconies or for owners to take their animals to wastelands and chuck them out of the car. It is also alarmingly common for wealthy individuals to import lion and tiger cubs. A recent bust at Beirut airport demonstrated just that when a huddle of desperate tiger cubs were handed over to 'Animals Lebanon' - an NGO battling against the odds to educate a nation, which has a cavity to fill when it comes to animal welfare. Education is really lacking. From shopkeepers, who keep puppies in tiny cages behind glass windows under the glaring sun, to the thousand others who simply have no idea about what keeping a pet entails. A lot of them indulge in the venture of acquiring a pet as entirely a status symbol and have no intentions, whatsoever of actually bonding with the animal, let alone taking it for a walk. Corners of upmarket Ashrafieh are often crowded with Asian maids walking dogs. What are the owners doing, one wonders.
Cruelty and neglect come in all forms. There is perhaps nothing more harrowing than seeing the video footage of an abandoned puppy farm or even fully grown lions being kept in tiny cages in cash-strapped 'zoos' - that can't survive on the proceeds of ticket sales but stay afloat by dealing in lion cubs, often from Syria. It's a lucrative business. But when these cats become ill because of owners' neglect, or because of maltreatment, many die. This is despite all the effort of organisations like Animals Lebanon, who have rescued many in recent years and saved some by finding homes overseas, often in South Africa. It's an uphill struggle though and officials from that charity have told me the main problem is education.
Many people are profoundly ignorant of animal welfare. It's as though the Lebanese have a dysfunctional side towards animals, which never ceases to shock me. What could those pet shop owners have thought when in 2006 they abandoned the country during the Israeli bombing and left their shops locked up - with all the animals in cages? Or the daughter of an oil tycoon, who tells me quite proudly that she took her family cat to the vet to have all its claws removed.
Just the other day a neighbour proudly showed me a photo on his phone of a heron he had shot dead, while out hunting. "Why would you shoot such a beautiful bird?" I stupidly asked. He just smiled and gazed curiously into my eyes rather like I had just asked him to recite the first act of Macbeth.
The more I think about this, the more I realise that I really don't understand Lebanese at all. According to the second animal welfare and rescue organisation BETA, there are 50,000 stray dogs in the country. Think about that for a second. It's overwhelming.
But what is Lebanon coming to? How did this country once considered a shining beacon in the region for education, culture and arts become a sort of third world freak show which has, as one of its chief features, an absurdly high number of gun incidents, involving dogs? Yes, one of the saddest things about lawless Lebanon and its high number of guns is that some individuals actually shoot dogs in the head for amusement. Some who survive, end up at BETA.
I can't say all Lebanese are bad towards animals. There is a small group of animal lovers, who are struggling to cope with this epidemic of cruelty and abuse. But it's not a subject, which shocks people here. They are more stirred by announcements of wage rises of civil servants, followed by plans to increase taxes.
I'm always taken by the protestors, who wave Lebanese flag so assiduously as though it is a symbol of unity and national identity, when the cynic in me thinks of it more of a declaration of guilt for not giving a damn about your own country. The absurdity of the tax rises though is also worth mulling over when we know the country is cash strapped because of the total desecration of the tourist sector. It was kept alive by Gulf Arab visitors until the outbreak of the Syrian war.
I wonder if the cat-kicker is a civil servant or is a flag-waver.
- Martin Jay is based in Beirut and can be followed at @MartinRJay

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