I personally have passed countless times by the Mina El Chalouhi commercial center and highway (spanning from Sin El fil to Nahr El Mot), and until I saw the below report by Al-Jadeed, I have always thought they were named after a late figure who must have deserved it for the good deeds she might have done in the past.
I guess it’s fair to say we can call this the revelation of the day!
According to BETA’s page on Facebook, a group of people in Nahr El Mot captured a dying fox today, and instead of rescuing it by at least notifying the authorities, they just thought about every possible way to abuse it!
A frantic phone call about a dying fox today, and 2 of our volunteers rushed straight to the scene.
To their dismay, the fox was not on the side of the Nahr el Mot highway as they were told; he was on the trunk of a car with men surrounding him as you can see in the photo. Their plan, original plan hadn’t we interfered we must say, was to tie him up on the hood of the car, drive around showing off their “trophy” and eventually sell him.Our volunteers tried to rescue the fox, but the proud men there tried to intimidate them and scare them off, especially that they were 2 women. And one very enthusiastic man stopped them, angrily screamed at them, cursed them and asked for money in order to surrender the poor fox.
We strongly stand against the selling and buying of any animal, let alone a wild victim agonizing in front of our own eyes.
Shouts, screams, curses, but still, our volunteers tried to calm down the man and rationally explain to him that he cannot claim the fox, a wild animal that belongs to the Lebanese wild.
We are often faced with hostility during our rescues, but the same man took “aggression and ignorance” to a whole new level!It was simple! Our volunteers refused to give up and started calling backup. So the man held the fox by the tail in one hand and a knife in another hand, and tried to skin the fox alive!
This is when you run out of patience and constructive discussions! Our volunteers aka “task force” took action, screamed, shouted and threatened, came near the fox and took him by force, and kept on threatening until the man was scared off and fled the scene, needless to say without the fox.
The fox was quickly transported to a clinic, and currently tests are being done to determine his case.
But the fox is in extremely critical state and the prognosis doesn’t look good so far!We will keep you posted! Source
That’s one more story showing that ignorance is definitely not making for good animal welfare in this country. Two days ago, news about a group of hunters shooting down an eagle in the mountains passed as if it isn’t such a big deal.
Update:
The fox unfortunately did not make it since his spine was broken.
A fox with a broken spine…
A wild animal that will never be able to run, hunt or
live normally…A predator that will have to spend the rest of his life paralyzed and completely helpless…
While cats and dogs appreciate the care and love we give them and can lead a normal life even if paralyzed, a fox would be miserable in captivity, especially that wild animals are not to be touched or cuddled.
A fox with a broken back completely dependent on humans… This is not a quality of life for a wild animal, and we had to make the very hard and sad decision of letting go and putting him to sleep.
Rest in peace little one! Source
Some friends of mine who work at Nahr El Mot sent me the below photos of the truck that fell today morning off the bridge leading to Metn highway. Luckily only the truck driver was injured.
Thanks to Elie Tawil & Elie Hajj.
Wouldn’t be awesome if people spray painted similar messages every time the government does a lousy job?
Is this Nahr El-Mot bridge by the way? Since that’s the bridge everyone complains about…
I received the below images by e-mail today showing how Nahr El-Mot interchange should look like in I dunno how many years from now. If the contracting companies will continue working at the same rate, that is 1 bridge per 3 years, then my son will probably be able to go through Nahr El-Mot without getting stuck in the traffic jam!
You can click on the images to enlarge them.
