RESCUE ALL DOGS has had an eventful 2020. Not only has our team of volunteers grown exponentially but we were lucky enough to get involved in a few rescue Missions outside of Montreal. The first, done in July 2020, in Manitoba (read about it here) and the other, 3 times over, in partnership with BETA (Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in Beirut Lebanon.

Instead of giving you a long list of facts, we caught up with two of our rescuers so that THEY could tell you about their first-hand experience. In this first interview, we spoke to Rob, our communications officer and Mr. Versitily himself.

Why did we go to Lebanon to begin with?

Our trip to Lebanon was inspired by the explosion in the port of Lebanon that happened in August. As advocates for dogs in need, we felt that the rescue missions were effectively focused on people and no one was really there for the animals. We wanted to support any way we could

Tell us a little bit about the mission and what you were meant to do?

Our mission in Lebanon was simple, we went there to

1) rescue all dogs;

2) provide relief to our partners at BETA by bringing back as many dogs as we could so that they would have the ability to take in more dogs

3) Provide support to our friends through our volunteer work and help to raise awareness for the amount of animals they have there and draw attention to their fundraising for their new shelter.

What were your first impressions when you first arrived in Lebanon?

To be quite honest, my first impression upon my arrival at the new shelter was just shock - what they are doing is astounding!! The organization is separated in two shelters - main one and the new one (currently in construction). In the new shelter, the animals are spread out over multiple locations (cats in one area, dogs in another and all the rest in the completed areas of the shelter). There is an area for two monkeys, three large areas for the three horses, and a donkey. An area for turtles, bunnies and there even is a pelican staying there now! In the old shelter (from which they have been currently served an eviction notice), my first impression was sheer overwhelming emotion. I had never seen anything quite like it, as the jeep pulls in you are just swallowed up in a sea of dogs that come to greet you. Tears streaming down my face, I felt like I was home. This is where I would spend the majority of my stay in Lebanon and this is where I would lose my heart.

Can you describe the condition of Lebanon vs what the media is telling us? How is the aftermath of the explosion?

Lebanon was nothing like what I expected from the media outlets, if I were to believe the media regarding terrorist attacks, travel advisories, major outbreaks of violence and even kidnappings, I probably would have been hiding in a corner the entire time I was there. Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of places, especially as a tourist, that you just don’t go. But the place as a whole was beautiful, the restaurants packed with delicious food, the land was lush and vibrant! There was definitely a large issue of waste disposal (stuff everywhere even outside the city limits), and the roads were insane! The aftermath of the explosion was an eye opening experience for me, seeing the destruction first-hand was a big shock. The day I was there (my third day in lebanon) was the 2-month anniversary of the explosion and you could feel the sense of loss in the air. There was a vigil nearby and the army in the area to make sure there was no civil unrest. My heart sank just listening to what these people had to go through and thinking of what happened to all of the animals in the area. The media didn’t show you that

Tell us about BETA.

BETA is an animal advocacy group based out in the MonteVerde region of Beirut. The location they have now is their second location and was an old pig farm. The current owner had told them that they could use the property, as it was completely vacant, for as long as they wanted. Recently, the owner has taken them to court to attempt to evict them, as he wants to develop the land. The property owner claims to have never given them permission to use the land and has tried to order them to evacuate immediately. This is what inspired their move and fundraising to get this new shelter up and running and complete. The two women who run the organization over there are Helena and Shireen. These are two of the most bada** women I’ve ever met. Rain or shine, day or night, when the call comes in, they run. We were at a dinner about an hour away from Beirut when a call for a rescue came in and there was no question, forks down, bill paid, LET’S GO. There are about 5 employees there (most living on the property, to protect the dogs or handle/call the ladies in case of emergencies) and Helena has each of them set to their own tasks on all fronts.

Helena is loved by almost every single dog there and knows so many of their names (despite having so many that look similar).

Shireen, she is not someone to mess with, she will kick a** with the rescue of dogs, drive them to the vet and still make time to cook dinner for her son at the end of the day and feed the dogs in the port at night. These two ladies are heroes and I couldn't feel more blessed to have had the chance to work with them.

I have to mention all the volunteers that come in (some, like us, internationally). It’s so important to help. They are actually extremely short staffed as it’s very difficult to get dedicated volunteers to work there everyday.

Describe your typical day during the mission?

My day was a little more insane than most haha. We would start the day by meeting Helena out front of Shireen’s building around 8-9am, then immediately head to the new shelter to see how the construction was coming. A long the way we would pick up fruits and vegetables for the monkeys, horses and the donkey.

Once the daily check had been done, then we would head over to the old shelter to assess the day, often we would need to take dogs to the vet (especially the closer we got to departure day for dogs on flights). In addition to that, we would need to check on any new arrivals to see if they needed to be vetted or if they were getting along with the other dogs. All throughout the day we would need to take pictures and videos with Shireen (she is the queen of instagram) as well as update the website (remember there are 900 dogs here and keeping up with that is no easy feat).

We also needed to keep all of you here in Canada up to date on our journey and the dogs that were coming back here with us!

Usually Saturday was designated as adoption day, which meant that previously vetted candidates would come to pick up their new dog bound for their new home or new potential candidates would come in to be vetted by the staff and to meet the dogs available for adoption! And some days were just reserved for hanging out and being a friend to as many dogs as you could at the shelter. To my surprise, my companion Kaite was quite handy with a first aid kit so she would take me with her to help administer first aid to the dogs needing it. After all of that we would head down to the port to feed the dogs. On occasion we would get a call to go out and rescue some type of animal.

On others, we would just head out to have dinner together and enjoy the night. Home at last, the day is over? No, not really for me. When everyone else would head to bed was when I would start catching up on my work with RAD here in Canada! FaceTime and emails, Instagram posts with our media team needed to be organized whenever possible (7 hour time difference) and before I knew it it was nearly 5am. Time to sleep for 4 hours and get up to do it all over again, but let me tell you, for all the crying and heartache, for all the ones who got dumped at the shelter again, for all wild things seen out there, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Tell us about your best moment in Lebanon?

It’s pretty hard to nail it down to just one so I’ll give you two. The first was my arrival at the old shelter on day one, swarmed with the dogs and the first two were the ones who stuck in my heart and greeted me every single day. Number one was Paname, who was a pitbull that captured my heart. She came running up to me and jumped up into my arms and then licked my face like crazy. She was the sweetest. The second dog to greet me that day and every day was a dog named Cricket, she was missing one eye due to being shot in the face and went blind in the other. Even with that she would still say hello and attempt to chase a ball, and even though she ran the wrong way every single time she would still end up back to you at some point with a ball (not the one you threw but who’s counting?).

The second was all experiences related to Keena. Keena was a puppy from the port that Shireen brought back to her home (due to a crippling amount of fear) to try to help her open up. The process took over a week. The first few days she wouldn’t move for anything, no food, no water, no play time, nothing. Eventually she started eating just a bit and jumping out of the pen we had her in (in Shireen’s room) to go poop all over the place and pee in the bed. We all would hang out in the kitchen (including Shireen’s 4 other dogs, her son and Kaite) and she would sneak down the hallway to peek in on us and then run back to the pen. Eventually, she would come up to us and give little kisses but as soon as she would get spooked by anything she would run back to her safe spot. By the time she was ready for adoption she would come out and play with us and run around and give lots of kisses (when she felt comfortable). There is quite a bit more to the story but I will leave that for another time haha…

What about the moment that hit you the hardest?

There were a lot of those moments, but I think the one that really hit me the hardest was actually my first day there. We did our day at the shelter and after a late lunch, we went down to the blast zone of the port to feed the dogs displaced by the explosion. The part where we were was a roundabout. In the centre there were a couple of trees and the ground was all dirt. Smack dab in the middle of there was a dog on our arrival, he wasn’t moving at all so we went to check on him. You didn’t have to get too close to realize that he was dead and had been dead quite a few hours. I went closer because I felt that I needed to see what had happened to the poor guy. The closer I got the worse the picture became. There were tread marks on his head. I tried as hard as I could to hold back the tears welling up inside me. Tire marks on the ground leading from the curb, the poor dog’s head smashed in. My best guess was that someone deliberately drove up onto the centre of the roundabout just to run this dog over. Just like that, a life is taken. I cried that day silently so as not to take away from taking care of the dogs that needed our help. I cried that night and again the next day and the day after and so on (even writing this story hurts).

Why are dogs getting abandoned in Lebanon?

A lot are abandoned because they are inconvenient, too much barking, too big, too old, just don’t feel like having a dog anymore and more often than not, you hear “I just want a puppy”. Many older dogs are brought to the shelter just so that they can pick up a puppy. It’s a big problem. The excuses I would hear just made me sick. One couple abandoned their 3-year-old Chihuahua because they were moving to Paris and their apartment was going to be “too small”. Too small?!?!?! It’s a freaking Chihuahua!!!! I can’t speak to exactly why people in Lebanon mistreat animals but from what I could gather, there is a lot of fear. Fear is a dangerous thing when it comes to fear of animals, that fear when left to its own devices could easily turn to rage and general discord against an otherwise harmless animal. Dogs are not born into aggression, it is bred into them by humans and it hurts my heart every time I see someone have an unreasonable fear of an animal just because they don’t understand it. The animal welfare in Lebanon is growing now. The younger generation is starting to develop a much better respect for animals and the laws are starting to reflect that. That being said there is still a long way to go, until the day comes where you can’t walk down the street and see an animal damaged by senseless violence, there will be no peace for them.

Is there any hope for all these dogs?

The short answer to this question is no. In Lebanon there is no hope for most of these dogs. There is a nearly ZERO percent adoption rate. Isn’t that terrifying? Look at the pictures I took over there. There are tons and tons of beautiful and kind dogs there. Honestly, most of the dogs there are the sweetest dogs you will ever meet. There are a bunch of dogs with only one eye, only one leg, massive scars, bullets still in them and other disfiguring marks. Unfortunately, that makes them unadoptable there, one of many other reasons these dogs will spend the majority of their lives at the shelter. I think about that every single minute of the day.

Can you tell us about an extreme case of abuse/neglect that you experience while on your trip?

I think the worst case I saw was a dog that was brought in who had had his tail chopped off and had been burned so badly that we thought he had been shot. He was delivered to BETA’s veterinary clinic and from there he was treated and then taken back to the shelter to rest up and heal.

Would you ever go back?

I would go back in a heartbeat. It is my dream that in the future I would be able to have regular visits to Lebanon to bring as many dogs home to Canada as possible. We have so many people here who are happy to open their hearts and homes to dogs from there (especially ones with special needs and seniors). My heart would sing to empty out that shelter as much as possible so that they may keep doing the amazing work they do there.

The Lebanon Mission - Rob’s interview