Fwd: Stop circus abuse - help save lions and tigers

January 5, 2010

We woke up Christmas morning with an email alerting us to a shipment of lions and tigers that was on the Egyptian/Jordanian border and it was headed to Lebanon.

This shipment of six lions and three tigers is part of a circus that was coming here to perform for six months, and advertisements were put up throughout Beirut. The circus was supposed to start on 23 December, but it had been delayed repeatedly as the animals still had not arrived.

The Princess Alia Foundation went to the Aqaba border crossing with the Greater Amman Municipality on 25 December after being notified that the animals had been stuck on the border for days.

According to the report from the Princess Alia Foundation the shipment left its point of origin in Egypt on 21 December, and the Egyptian crew accompanying the shipment said the animals had been put in the crates approximately ten days before.

The shipment was delayed for two days on the border as the Egyptian crew did not have the proper paperwork to show they could continue the journey to Syria. The crew admitted that they had not provided food or water since they left their point of origin I Egypt as the owner of the animals did not provide them with money to purchase it.

Food and water were purchased by the Princess Alia Foundation and the officials from the Greater Amman Municipality after it became clear that the animals had not been fed or watered for at least two days. They the escorted the shipment to the Syria border, and the animals finally left Jordan at 13:20 on 26 December and headed into Syria.

We raced to the circus grounds to document the animals as quickly as possible and check on their health, but found that the animals had still not arrived.

Read more about how Animals Lebanon is working to stop this abuse. With your help we hope to be able to help these lions and tigers and show that Lebanon will not be used as a hub for smuggled animals.