Beirut-Based Animal Rescue Group Works to Help Countless Pets Affected by City’s Explosion

[Aug. 11, 2020: People]

It has been a week since Beirut was crippled by an explosion that left at least 171 dead, according to the New York Times, thousands injured and even more without homes. Also affected by this devastating event were the city's countless pets and animals.

Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (BETA) is on the ground in the Lebanese city working hard to help the community dogs and lost pets that found themselves in the explosion's blast zone.

According to the rescue, BETA's founder, Helena Husseini, has personally visited the blast zone several times to look for missing pets and animals in need of immediate medical assistance, to assess the damage of the explosion on both pets and street dogs and cats, and to feed the hungry animals she finds in the area.

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BETA says the number of pets missing or dead because of the explosion is unclear, since new reports of missing, reunited and found animals continue to come in.

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Miraculously, most of the 100 community dogs fed by locals living in the blast area prior to the explosion appear to have survived the destructive event. Since the locals the dogs depend on for food evacuated the area following the blast, BETA is making an effort to supply the dogs left behind with food and medical care.

Helping BETA with its life-saving work is SPCA International. The animal welfare organization has committed a $20,000 grant to BETA to help them with the immense challenges posed by this tragedy, along with the additional issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Lebanon's economic crisis.....Read More