There’s a charity caring for lost and abandoned pets who urgently need all our help.  

It’s based in Lebanon, and it’s the Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (BETA). The charity has six staff and it relies on volunteers and international donations.  Today, it featured in the Mail on Sunday who ran an article about it and the help it needs.

It houses 850 dogs, 250 cats, three horses, two vervet monkeys and a pelican.

Not only that, the charity’s volunteers give food and medical care to all the strays roaming Beirut.

Dogs and cats in Beirut need help

As you know, there was a huge blast in Beirut in August when 2,700 tons of combustible chemicals stored at the port exploded.

The result was that 200 people were killed.  Thousands more were made homeless.  And BETA’s teams are searching for dogs and cats who were very distressed and ran away from the explosion area.  At the same time, many cats and dogs have been abandoned because of the financial crisis.  BETA estimate there are about 150,000 strays in the city of Beirut. 

BETA has a Crowdfunder

BETA has issued an urgent appeal – they need to complete a new rescue centre.  

With everything that’s going on – the explosion, the economic crisis and COVID-19, progress on the building has been slow.  The fully equipped stable and a monkey enclosure have been built.  Work is going on to finish the dog kennels – and the area for seniors.

£150,000 is urgently needed to finish it for the rescue dogs, cats and other animals before Christmas because they are being evicted from the current shelter.   And there is a need to provide for the animals’ basic needs such as food and medical care and to carry out their daily tasks. 

Please help provide these animals with the safe haven they deserve.  They have been through enough and need help.

If you have a cat or a dog, why not make a donation on their behalf and give cats and dogs in Lebanon a safe haven!

BETA is now a 501(c)3 charity organization registered in the USA. Tax identification number: 83-2075807

Please donate to the crowdfunder with GoFundMe

There’s also a wishlist on BETA’s website and you can find out more about the charity here.

#LiveKinder 

#FreeKaavan: Save the World’s loneliest elephant

The charity Four Paws have a goal:  to give the animals at the Marghazar Zoo in Pakistan a new life full of care and happiness. 

And there’s someone there who particularly needs help.

He’s called Kaavan.

Kaavan is an Asian Elephant.

He’s lived restrained by chains for 30 years.  Since 2012, he’s been on his own – his only companion, Saheli, died then.

 


Four Paws want to bring Kaavan to a sanctuary in Cambodia, a journey of over 4,000 kilometres.

They have the support of the IWMB and Pakistani community.

Kaavan has the green light to go after being examined. But Four Paws need help to give Kaavan the medical care he needs after three decades in confinement and isolation.   He’ll be their heaviest rescue so far, and he’ll be loaded into a custom-built create onto a heavy-duty cargo plane for his journey – the weight of Kaavan and his crate is about 10 tons!

Will you help?  Please spread the word – and better still, donate!  Every little will help this huge elephant take this huge step to sanctuary!

About Four Paws

Four paws is a global animal welfare organization.  It’s vision is “a world where humans treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding.”

Please donate here

The event started off as Orangutan Awareness Week but as with so many other species, it’s clear that raising awareness just isn’t enough.

We need to care enough to take action and save these amazing animals and their rainforest homes.

Rainforests matter

Rainforests and ecosystems are essential to all our health and wellbeing and they need to be sustainably managed so that they can continue to help us all stay well.   They help moderate the climate, they are critical to maintain water quality and for erosion control.   They are known for their biodiversity.  It’s important that people know that rainforests matter for ALL our wellbeing.

The Orangutan Caring Week 2020:

The theme this year is:  Protecting Biodiversity for a healthy planet”

And how appropriate that theme is.  Covid-19 has really raised awareness of how all our health and wellbeing is interlinked. 

COVID-19 hasn’t yet been observed in great apes, but scientific evidence shows that they are susceptible to diseases transmitted by humans.  And scientists fear that the virus could jump to gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans, who share 97 to 99% of their DNA with people.

The orangutans are also facing habitat loss, habitat degradation, illegal hunting, and an illegal pet trade.

Every precaution is being taken to protect the orangutans and staff at rescue and rehabilitation centres.  Unfortunately, this means that expenses are rising as centres have to buy in food, gowns, gloves and testing.   More orangutans are coming into the centres who need to be cared for.

The climate crisis and mass extinction threatening thousands of animals and plants mean that the need for action is clear.

Orangutans have lived in harmony with nature for millions of years.  And now, because of human activity, their populations have plummeted by over 50% over the past 60 years.  Their habitat has been reduced by 55% in the last 20 years alone.

We must protect wildlife habitats.

Some of the newest disease – Ebola, SARS, Covd-19 – have come about when humans have crossed the natural barriers between people and animal populations.  We must give critically endangered species their right to safe, thriving habitats, where they can be unbothered by people. 

Save orangutans and we are making changes to perhaps protect all life on earth. 

5 ways to help:

1. Learn about the issues
2. Take action for orangutans.  Do something to help.
3. Spread the word
4. Donate
5. Take a look at orangutan conservation charities to see how you can help.

 Action is needed to save the orangutan and their rainforest home.

 If ever there was a time to care, that time is now!

#OrangutanCaringWeek   #OCW

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