When an unmarked wooden box arrived in the Beirut, Lebanon airport, it sat there for an entire week before someone decided to open it. The box was only 16 inches tall and had several holes punched in the side… nothing too out of the ordinary. However, when security finally opened it up, they got the surprise of a lifetime.
Really, it is a miracle they managed to survive so long. The box was so tiny that they weren’t even able to stand up.
“Nothing indicated that the box contained tigers or even live animals, and there were no details of a shipper or receiver,” rescue group Animals Lebanon (AL) wrote.
It turns out that the cubs were in route from Nikolaev Zoo in Ukraine to the Samer al-Husainawi Zoo in Damascus, Syria.
“Once we finally got them out of the box, the box had dozens and dozens of maggots crawling around in it. There were maggots all over the back thighs of the animals and around their anus,” Jason Mier, executive director of AL, told ABC News.
The judge, realizing that the tigers couldn’t be left in the airport in that state, decided to grant the order.
The charity provided them with a big open space to run around, and also much needed medical treatment. Luckily, AL’s wildlife veterinarian was eventually able to nurse all three cubs back to health.
“Their paw pads were raw and red from being covered in urine, as were their back legs and thighs,” AL wrote. “They had not received the proper vaccinations so all three were vaccinated. Only one tiger was found to have a microchip, though documents state that all three should have been microchipped.”
Although the tigers were to supposedly end up in a Syrian zoo, the whole situation was kind of shady, and AL was not so sure about the intended destination. There was certainly a lot of reason to be skeptical.
“Big cats can be worth tens of thousands of dollars on the black market. The owner is fighting to get them back,” AL wrote. “And we are fighting for the tigers.”
While AL fought long and hard to keep control of the tigers, the judge ultimately decided to send the tigers back to their owners in Ukraine.
Mier elaborated in an interview with The Dodo:
“Since 2012 their mother has given birth to at least 12 cubs, including these three,” Mier told The Dodo. “The other nine were all sold to ‘private/undisclosed’ buyers.”
In many countries, there is simply not as much oversight surrounding the sale of exotic animals as we are used to in the Western world. There is a lot of money to be made by selling the cubs to private owners, and in many cases, no one is going to be around to check up on their well-being.
Watch the Animals Lebanon Facebook video below to learn more about the story.
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