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Rescuing Lebanon's big cats

A lion and two tigers living in a private zoo in Lebanon are on their way to an animal sanctuary in France.
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BEIRUT — “It’s a very complicated process to send animals. There are about 20 people involved,” Maggie Shaawari, vice president of Animals Lebanon, says as she drives up a steep dirt road in northern Lebanon and juggles Facebook updates, taking photos of the lion and tigers in crates ahead of her and calling on her iPhone to the animal welfare organization’s office, people at the airport, press contacts and other staff members.

In the heart of Lebanon's Chouf region, deep in a valley, there's a private zoo that was previously full of exotic animals — lions, tigers, flamingos, a chimpanzee, even a cheetah. But with the collaboration of French veterinarian Jean-Christophe Gerard, the sanctuary he works at, Tonga Terre D’Accueil, and Lebanese organization Animals Lebanon, this zoo slowly has been emptied of some of those animals.

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