More than 11 thousand people watched the video revealing a fatal poison which was put to kill cats in “Saydet el Hakle” Monastery in Dlebta region, in the district of Kesserwan in Lebanon.
The video, which was published by the co-founder of “APAF” animal welfare association, revealed a green poison that caused the deaths of 14 cats, until now, as Tony Mousawwer said in an interview with “greenarea.info”.
The animal lover (Mousawwer), who witnessed countless cases of animals suffering over the past 14 years, attached the following comment with the video: “When there is a lack of compassion and love in the hearts of four Nuns, and they murder the cats playing in the forest surrounding the monastery by poisoning them, that is when you know that the “judgment day” has approached, and that the end of the world is very near … Where is the church? Where is the Patriarch? Share this video to make our voice heard. ”
Mousawwer told us about a friend of his, who is a Christian believer, visits the monastery on a regular basis. She informed Tony once she knew about the incident, and everything was confirmed when they went to that place located in the middle of a forest.” Mousawwer was very disappointed that several media outlets hesitated to publish what is happening, “especially that it has to do with a monastery,” confirming that his faith does not allow him to see such a “horrific scene” (dead cats), and that he wants to deliver a message, saying that “he has been trying to convince the nuns cutting this bad action (poisoning the cats), but they did not do so. ”
The penultimate time that Tony went to the monastery, accompanied by his friends, was before Eid al-Fitr; that was when he asked the nuns “not to poison the remaining cats, because he will return to take them.” He told us angrily: “we found them (the cats) dead and dumped in the garbage bin,” adding: “Is this how the believer treats animals? Did they forget that there is an intercessor for the animals, and he is St. Francis? “.
Mousawwer confirms that seven people bear witness that what he is mentioning what has actually happened, adding: “I have no interest in attacking the nuns, as some might think; I am a believer.”
Deadly poison
We asked him about the reason the cats are being poisoned, and he answered: “It’s not clear,” adding that “the 4 nuns who put the poison (while all the other nuns take care of the cats and feed them), have mentioned a series of excuses, including that the cats enter the kitchen, while other cats bring fleas. ” The last excuse drove Mousawwer to provide a flea killer, that is not harmful to animals.”
The person who is worried about the fate of animals in Lebanon, took a sample of the poison, and presented to a doctor, who confirmed that it is a “deadly poison.” However, Mousawwer did not receive an official document emphasizing this, because the Ministry of Health only examines what is related to germs, and the other laboratories which were asked to examine the poison, did not accept any shooting inside their premises.”
Lack of accounting
“Who should we approach when there is lack of accounting?”, he asks. Then says that the law established by “Animals Lebanon” Association for the Protection of Animals, is still ink on paper, and it is still not implemented. ” If anyone wanted to doubt whether the video was real “let him/her see the poison, and the poison sites, knowing that one of them was found by chance behind the fridge.”
Mousawwer is still shocked to see this scene at the monastery. Last summer, he rescued several cats there, and about a month, he saved another group of cats. The last time he went there, he rescued two cats, he took from their mother, and left two others with her. The 2 rescued cats are now with Michaela Stephan.
No comment!
In light of this carelessness towards animals in Lebanon, we conducted a phone call interview with the Secretariat of the Patriarchate, and we were told by the person who answered the phone that “the Patriarchate does not comment on such issues, and what is the evidence that this incident happened?”. We answered that there is a video that confirms what happened, so he returned to say that “the patriarch is outside of Lebanon, and no one else could comment on the matter.” He stressed, “No comment!” without telling us his name. However, we asked him: Does religion allow killing animals, religiously? “No, this is not acceptable, but we have no comment on the issue.”
” I Adopted the cats” … and one is ready for adoption
We contacted Mikayella Stefan, who is taking care of 3 rescued cats. Stefan, whose “heart was broken” after she “saw what was happening to the cats,” confirmed to greenarea.info: “I could not leave the cats in danger; I had to take care of them,” adding “we took these cats from the place that is supposed to protect them; it is the House of the Lord, which is supposed to include all good, but unfortunately, what was done is an evil act, that is not accepted by any religion.
” Taking care of the 3 rescued cats, and the 6 remaining cats that Mikayella has been taking care of since a while, is around 200 thousand Lebanese pounds for food, and 100 thousand Lebanese pounds for sand. Mikayella was accustomed to taking care of 5 animals, but now the number of animals doubled, and it “exceeds her capabilities.”
The singer Mikayella, who was unable to go and save the cats in the holiday season, since she was very occupied with her concerts, is still taking care of the cats, and she declares that one of them is ready for adoption.
Whoever wants to adopt one of the cats, could contact Tony Mousawwer through his Facebook page. ” We expect that the relevant authorities will stop this farce against animals, because it is “not a joke”, in addition to the benefits of animals. For example, cats contribute to reducing asthma exposure rates for newborn babies by 35 percent. Religion and customs existed to improve the world for the better, not to make it worse than it is!
Evasion … and “violating the law”
We tried to contact “Saydet al Hakle” monastery to hear back from the nuns on what is happening and why there are poisoning the cats, but they kept avoiding us several times, especially when we told them that the reason we are calling is to talk with the head of the monastery on the subject of poisoning cats, in addition to obtaining the permission for filming in the monastery.
Every time we called the monastery, the answer was that the head of the monastery was far away, and she cannot answer the phone. When we tried to call later, the line was busy. This recurred many times, until we received the message: “They want to avoid the subject.”
The poison, on the other hand, has been examined in a laboratory, which did not accept giving us the official paper when it knew the reason for the examination, and the fear of “all that has to do with monasteries” dominated, as we are told by several parties. But we are not attacking monasteries in any way, but we are against everything that oppresses the environment, human, and animal.
It should be noted that “one of the nuns was crying when she knew there were other cats that are still dying,” Tony Mousawwer informed us. “They killed my cats; I used to feed them,” she would say. We cannot but mention that a large number of nuns have been feeding the cats and taking care of them, while other nuns were poisoning them. Generalizing is not acceptable in any situation, and we just want to draw the attention of the concerned authorities. It is time they see the suffering of animals in our country.
Poisoning animals by “lanette” results in their death within a maximum time of 5 minutes, according to the veterinarian Joseph Hosri. The suffering undergone by the animal upon eating this poison, begins with a fever, nausea, the destruction of the nervous system and shivering… accompanied with severe pain, according to Dr. Andrea, who confirmed the same symptoms and suffering that Dr. Hosri listed.
Lannate is the commercial name, Dr. Naji Kodeih, Environmental Expert at “greenarea.info”, and Doctor in Toxicology explained, adding that “its scientific name is Methomyl, and it is a carbamate insecticide, that is highly toxic to humans and pets. It is low persistent in the environment (about 14 days), and it might contaminate groundwater.”
The poisoning of animals in this way is contrary to the protection and welfare of animals’ law, and specifically, to the first item of Article IV thereof, which stipulates that “Unless otherwise specified under this Law, it is prohibited to perform any act that may inflict distress, pain or suffering to animals or subject them to danger or torture. ”
The sanctions, in case of the violation of any of the provisions of that law, are “paying a fine ranging from three to ten million Lebanese pounds.”
Will the law submitted by “Animals Lebanon Association” in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, be implemented? What prevents that? The poison “Lanette” is banned from use in most countries, as the vets told us. In Lebanon, a ministerial decision which was issued around a month ago, banned the importation of “lanette,” especially since the issue of the carcinogenic agricultural pesticides was highlighted.
However, the quantities in the market are still being sold. Users of this poison might resort to finding ways to smuggle it to Lebanon, and sell it in the market for years ahead, arguing that “the quantities in the market have not finished yet.”
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