Before being rescued, The Three Tiger Cubs Were Trapped In the Beirut Airport In An Unmarked, Maggot-Infested Crate For Almost A WeekThe animal rights group Animals Lebanon was tipped off to a shipment of three Siberian tiger cubs sitting in the Beirut airport hanger and was ultimately bound for Damascus's Samer al-Husainawi located in war-torn Syria,
The tigers, which were being transported from Ukraine, arrived at the Beirut airport what Animals Lebanon found disgusted them. The Three Tiger cubs were locked inside a ventilated 0.3-cubic-meter (10.6-cubic feet) crate, where they could not stand or move and were forced to urinate and defecate on each other, according to Animals Lebanon Executive Director Jason Mier. |
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After the animal rights group petitioned a Lebanese judge to release the tigers into their care. the judge responded by issuing an order demanding the tigers be released, citing concerns for their health and welfare.
"Once we finally got them out of the box, the box had dozens and dozens of maggots crawling around in it. The cubs were suffering from dehydration. infested with maggots all over the back, thighs and around their anus," Mier said.
The Tigers were being sent from the Nikolaev Zoo in Mykolaev, Ukraine, to Samer al-Husainawi Zoo. The Nikolaev Zoo director Volodymyr Topchiy, claimed the deal to send the three Tiger cubs to the Samer al-Husainawi Zoo was entirely legal, which Wildlife Planet believes Topchiy legality claim is extremely debatable.
Topchiy took his 'entirely legal' claim a step further, adding "They passed customs clearance, we have customs declarations," and paperwork and bureaucracy were the reason the transfer was stopped because, he said, "On the transportation boxes there were no 'up' or down' signs."
Mier said the crate arrived with no markings and no documents and did not meet IATA regulations, nor those of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, despite the fact that the four-month-old Siberian tigers fall under that category.
This is not the first deal that the Mykolaev zoo has made with its Syrian counterpart, and Topchiy said he is considering sending more tiger cubs there.
Lebanon enacted an animal protection and welfare law in 2015, granting animals legal rights and allowing for the regulation and monitoring of all the industries and establishments that use or sell animals to ensure that the animals are not placed in abusive environments.
The country is also a signatory to a number of international conventions regarding animal welfare, such as CITES, the main legislation against wildlife trafficking.
"Once we finally got them out of the box, the box had dozens and dozens of maggots crawling around in it. The cubs were suffering from dehydration. infested with maggots all over the back, thighs and around their anus," Mier said.
The Tigers were being sent from the Nikolaev Zoo in Mykolaev, Ukraine, to Samer al-Husainawi Zoo. The Nikolaev Zoo director Volodymyr Topchiy, claimed the deal to send the three Tiger cubs to the Samer al-Husainawi Zoo was entirely legal, which Wildlife Planet believes Topchiy legality claim is extremely debatable.
Topchiy took his 'entirely legal' claim a step further, adding "They passed customs clearance, we have customs declarations," and paperwork and bureaucracy were the reason the transfer was stopped because, he said, "On the transportation boxes there were no 'up' or down' signs."
Mier said the crate arrived with no markings and no documents and did not meet IATA regulations, nor those of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, despite the fact that the four-month-old Siberian tigers fall under that category.
This is not the first deal that the Mykolaev zoo has made with its Syrian counterpart, and Topchiy said he is considering sending more tiger cubs there.
Lebanon enacted an animal protection and welfare law in 2015, granting animals legal rights and allowing for the regulation and monitoring of all the industries and establishments that use or sell animals to ensure that the animals are not placed in abusive environments.
The country is also a signatory to a number of international conventions regarding animal welfare, such as CITES, the main legislation against wildlife trafficking.