Pets caught in Lebanon's economic crisis - in pictures

Rescued dogs at the Woof N' Wags shelter on the outskirts of the village of Kfar Chellal, south of the Lebanese capital Beirut. AFP

Founder of Woof N' Wags shelter, Joe Okdjian, plays with a blind rescued dog. AFP

A rescued cat at Animals Lebanon, an animal protection organisation in Beirut. AFP

Volunteer Ghada Al Khateeb plays with a rescued dog at the shelter. AFP

As families struggle to stay afloat during Lebanon's worst economic crisis, more pet owners are asking for help to feed or re-home their animals. In worst-case scenarios, pets are sold or abandoned. AFP

Animal activists say the number of abandoned pets is on the rise. AFP

The price of imported pet food, meat and veterinary care has soared in Beirut. AFP

The Woof N' Wags shelter has 90 dogs in its care. AFP

Mr Okdjian prepares food every day for the animals. AFP

An animal rescuer says two or three people a week are asking her to re-home their pets. AFP

Rim Sadek, a companion animal co-ordinator at Animals Lebanon, tends to a rescued cat in Beirut. AFP

A rescued cat safe and well at Animals Lebanon, Beirut. AFP

Shelters are in desperate need of donations, as the number of animals in their care continues to grow. AFP

Can you afford to keep your pet? Animal activists say this is a dilemma a growing number of Lebanese owners are facing as their purchasing power nosedives.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese have lost their jobs or seen their income reduced to a pittance due to Lebanon's worst economic crisis in decades.

As many families struggle to stay afloat, activists say increasingly more pet owners are asking for help to feed or re-home their animals, selling them, or in the worst cases abandoning them.

At the Woof N' Wags dog shelter in southern Lebanon, volunteer Ghada Al Khateeb watched a female dog lying on her side, breathing weakly under a grubby white coat, after she was rescued from the local trash dump. She said pet abandonments were on the rise.

"Nobody can afford to feed their dogs anymore," said the 32-year-old hairdresser and divorced mother of twins. "When they come to hand them over, they tell us: 'our children are our priority'."

The shelter's founder, 28-year-old Joe Okdjian, said he was in desperate need of more donations.

"Sometimes they go a day or two without food," he said of the 90 dogs already in his care.

Ibrahim Al Dika had raised his Belgian shepherd Lexi since she was a tiny pup, but then Lebanon's economic crisis made him jobless and he had to sell her to repay a bank loan.

"It got to the point where I was no longer able to feed her, the bank was pressuring me, and I hit a wall," said the 26-year-old, devastated beside her empty kennel outside his Beirut home.

"I didn't sell a car or a telephone. I sold a soul. I sold a part of me."

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