August 2, 2006: PETA Has Entered Bombed War Zone in Southern Lebanon

Early this morning, PETA’s Michele Rokke sent a report to PETA’s headquarters from Hezbollah-controlled Southern Lebanon, where she is helping to take supplies to as many animals as her rescue team can find.

Michele spent August 1 in the suburbs south of Beirut with Lebanese volunteers from Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and then met with armed fighters, who agreed to help her with deliveries—including cat and dog food and water containers—for deserted animals. Michele tells us, “Kind people know that hungry animals don’t have political alliances.” We agree.

Most residents of the area—which has been pocked by bomb craters and cut off from surrounding communities after a bridge was destroyed—evacuated weeks ago, leaving animals to struggle amid the rubble. Michele reports that gun-carrying militants “looked at us with great suspicion” but that PETA’s car managed to follow a United Nations convoy through the mountains in order to reach the affected area. Michele has urged UN workers to be on the lookout for animals in need and is distributing a flier to the media and other parties with tips such as how to care for animals in distress, using kitchen pans as water containers, and unchaining dogs in unlocked pens in order to give dogs a chance to flee.

The Lebanese people have also been helping animals in need. A Lebanese soldier gave dog food to a dog who was hiding under a building. One Lebanese citizen was grateful after receiving food for her cats. A young boy and his father who rescued a hungry puppy but had nothing to give him praised us for coming to help animals. “The people are so kind and grateful for the help with their animals and other animals in their area,” Michele reports.

At one house near the demolished bridge, Michele caught sight of a very thin puppy. “When I went back to him with food,” Michele wrote, “he disappeared onto the porch of a home in order to be near a black-and-tan littermate. They were probably about 5 months old and were too frightened to be approached. While I was calling to the pups, a kitten came across the porch and immediately started eating the puppy chow, crying as she ate.”

Trucks carry dead people past the dead cats and dogs who are lying “all over the place,” explains Michele. These sights remind all of us—just as in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—of the life-and-death necessity of evacuating all species out of harm’s way.

Good news for now: PETA has learned that an animal caretaker at a zoo in Hezbollah-controlled territory stayed behind in order to look after the many animals—including birds, rabbits, camels, goats, fish, and a crocodile—who live there. Michele reports that the animals “look very well taken care of and are quite happy under the circumstances. The zoo is a serene, green garden in the midst of ugly rubble.”