Dedication to Animal Welfare Unites Arab and American Groups

Washington - Like many dogs, Sahraa loves to play in the park and craves constant attention. But Sahraa is different from other dogs in her Washington neighborhood. If she could talk, she would tell quite a story.

For starters, Sahraa lived most her life in the Kuwaiti desert. And, if that weren't tough enough on a dog, she survived a devastating fire at her shelter in Kuwait that many of her companions did not. One of dozens of dogs who made it out alive, Sahraa needed to find a home, and fast, as the shelter was totally destroyed.

Fortunately for Sahraa, a coordinated effort between Arab and American-based groups brought her to a loving home on the other side of the world. Sahraa's story, though, is just part of growing Arab and American nongovernmental groups' cooperation that is helping homeless animals across the Arab world.

Exemplifying this is the history among Best Friends Animal Society in Utah, Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (BETA) and Animal Friends in Lebanon.

Best Friends learned of the plight of Lebanese animals when BETA asked for help during the July 2006 war. Sharon St. Joan, international consultant and editor with Best Friends, recalls the first time she heard about BETA.

"They contacted us and they were right in the middle of the war and were having bombs dropped all over them," St. Joan said. "They were very heroic, actually, and I think that is what first took our attention."

As the war raged, BETA volunteers gathered cats and dogs abandoned by owners who fled. However, BETA's small facility could not handle the animals and they needed to find homes. That is where Best Friends stepped in. After the war ended, Best Friends coordinated a shipment of 300 dogs and cats from BETA to its center in Utah. Best Friends built a sanctuary to maintain the animals and found homes for all of them.

Helena Husseini, BETA vice president, said Americans continued to reach out to her organization even after the international animal rescue.

"Afterward, many people who adopted animals from us got in touch with us saying that some of their friends wanted to adopt a Lebanese dog," Husseini said.

But pet adoptions are just part of the legacy of the relationship between Best Friends and animal welfare groups in Lebanon. Shortly after the airlift, BETA members also formed Animals Lebanon. While Animals Lebanon maintains a shelter for cats and dogs, it has an additional mission - promoting new legislation to protect animals.

Best Friends worked with Animals Lebanon to select an executive director who knew how to run a fledgling organization, and they found Jason Meir, who is experienced with animal issues in Africa and Spain.

Today, under Meir's guidance, combined with the dedication of Animals Lebanon volunteers, the organization is on the cusp of introducing animal welfare to Lebanon at the official level.

"We work more on enacting legislation to deal with the smuggling of wildlife and some of these more high-profile issues," Meir said. "As of now, Animals Lebanon is working with the ministries to enact the first national animal welfare laws."

Animals Lebanon and BETA's activities go beyond Lebanon with their membership in the Middle East Network for Animal Welfare (MENAW). Headquartered in Cairo, MENAW serves as a forum to exchange information and ideas among Arab animal welfare groups. It turns out that Best Friends also played a pivotal role in its development.

Ahmed El Sherbiny, founder and chairman of MENAW, said Best Friends helped launched the organization.

"They contributed financially to the 2007 and the March 2010 conference," El Sherbiny said. "If we need anything, they just help."

El Sherbiny is president of the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends (ESAF), organizers of the MENAW conference. ESAF teaches schoolchildren kindness to animals, trains pet shop owners about animal welfare and organizes trap, neuter and release (TNR) programs in cooperation with the Egyptian government and nongovernmental organizations.

Animal welfare activists, including St. Joan of Best Friends, believe TNR is the most humane way to reduce the population of street dogs and cats that populate Arab cities and deserts. Otherwise, governments often turn to shooting and poisoning the animals.

Days after the conference in March 2010, MENAW sponsored 15 days of training for eight veterinarians from Arab countries at ESAF's center in Cairo. The Humane Society of the United States sent veterinarians who taught techniques for operating on animals.

"If you have a good vet, that means good welfare for animals and instead of killing the stray animals we can operate on them," El Sherbiny said. "When the vets go back home, they should teach other vets on how to operate on animals using the most modern techniques."

Training a handful of veterinarians on TNR techniques can make an impact, but the population of street animals in many Arab cities remains huge. For example, animal welfare groups estimate 1 million dogs live in Baghdad's streets.

"It's like a drop in the sea," El Sherbiny said of current efforts to use TNR programs. "We are teaching people that there are other ways - that instead of killing stray dogs, there is an alternative."

While TNR is a humane way to reduce the number of homeless animals in Arab countries, it needs further financing to be effective, El Sherbiny said. In the meantime, Arab and American animal welfare groups continue to foster partnerships that promote the humane treatment of animals.

The Washington Animal Rescue League, the group that took in the Kuwaiti dogs from the fire, highlights this cooperation.

Jamie Scotto, adoptions and rescue director at the league, said the Humane Society of the United States told his group about the Kuwaiti dogs. From the end of April to the beginning of May, the league received a batch of 27 canine survivors of the blaze, including Sahraa.

"We frequently work with the Humane Society of the United States to take animals from hoarding situations or puppy mills, and when Humane Society International ran into the situation where a shelter in Kuwait burned down, they thought of us because we can frequently make space in these emergency situations," Scotto said.

As of this writing, all but three of the 27 dogs have been placed with owners. Scotto said part of the reason people quickly adopted most of the dogs was the positive media attention the league received when the dogs first arrived from Kuwait. The dogs' good condition also helped them find new homes.

"In large part, the reason that they have [almost all] been adopted is that the organization that was caring for them did such a wonderful job ... making sure that they were enriched and busy so they did not suffer from things like kennel stress," Scotto said. "So they were all in good condition. They were friendly and they were good with other dogs."

Helen Betts, Sahraa's new owner, agrees with Scotto's assessment of the Kuwait shelter.

"I was impressed by the shelter ... and even more so because they made arrangements to ship the survivors here that they couldn't place," Betts said.

Prior to the blaze, the Animal Friends League of Kuwait regularly shipped animals to America for adoption. Ayeshah Al-Humaidhi, founder and executive director of Animal Friends League of Kuwait, said her group for more than two years sent animals to shelters in New England that spay and neuter animals. Apparently, animal adoption programs in New England do so well they have more doctors than dogs for adoption, Al-Humaidhi said.

Al-Humaidhi learned about caring for animals while working in shelters in Pennsylvania. With her knowledge of animal care and shelter management, she founded the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and their Habitat (K'S PATH). Animal Friends League of Kuwait, which burned down, is a subsidiary of K'S PATH. Apart from forming animal welfare organizations, her knowledge of American animal shelters helps her develop strong relationships.

Most recently, she sent four dogs to Vermont for adoption.

As for Sahraa, she is really taking to life in America. But it has not been all fun and games. Betts said she fears crates, perhaps because she spent such a long time in one on her journey from Kuwait. And then there were the stairs.

"When we brought her home, it was quite obvious that she had never seen stairs before," Betts said. "She didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to get into the house."

Al-Humaidhi said that is normal for desert dogs. Before her shelter burned down, staff often carried dogs around the building because many had never been inside a structure before and did not know how to cope.

Those days though, are long gone for Sahraa. Not only does she go up and down stairs, she is really taking to life in America.

"She is a glutton for affection and attention and you can't walk anywhere without her flipping on her back and expecting to be petted," Betts said. "She is also really embarrassing in the park. Any person she sees she wants to go do the same thing to and she wants to be petted by them, and not everyone wants that."