KFAROUE, Lebanon — In the village of Kfaroue in southern Lebanon, Hussein Hamza makes his daily rounds to feed and check on his furry and feathered charges. The number of animals in his care has grown significantly since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted, as hundreds of thousands of southern Lebanon residents fled and were unable to take their pets or farm animals. In other cases, owners were killed in Israeli airstrikes, and some animals arrived wounded.
The conflict began March 2, when Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, fired missiles into Israel following U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Dozens of dogs gather around Hamza, tails wagging as he pushes a wheelbarrow loaded with chicken pieces to distribute among them. Some dogs are missing limbs, and one has an infected wound on its foot that Hamza cleans. He continues his rounds, carrying buckets of water into a pen housing chickens and a pair of camels.
“During the war, people contacted us and said they had left their chickens behind because everyone had to evacuate suddenly,” Hamza said. “They asked us to bring the chickens here, explaining that if left roaming free, foxes might eat them, and they would otherwise die from hunger and thirst. We managed to rescue only the chickens we could reach—not all of them. There were areas where fighting was too intense, so we couldn’t access them.”
While airstrikes occurred around Kfaroue, the area remained relatively calm compared to regions closer to the Israeli border, where entire villages have been destroyed and Israeli troops have occupied large swaths of land. Under the current tentative truce, Hamza waits for animal owners to return and reclaim their pets and livestock.
Hamza has cared for animals since 2006. His shelter, Mashala (meaning “what God has willed”), has been at its current location for seven years. The war has increased demand while straining his limited budget; he spends $400 to $500 daily on food, medical care, spaying and neutering, workers’ wages, fuel, and repairs.
“When I first started, I paid for everything myself,” Hamza said. “I had an agricultural business and kept spending from my own money until I went bankrupt.” He created a Facebook page to solicit donations, but raising funds has become difficult amid Lebanon’s many pressing humanitarian needs. Many potential donors prefer supporting displaced people or medical aid rather than animal welfare.
Hamza understands this preference but believes humans have an obligation to care for dependent animals. “We shouldn’t neglect these responsibilities because of wars or poverty,” he said. The ongoing uncertainty in Lebanon and fears of further escalation have deterred adoption, though some of his dogs have found homes, including Abbas Shoeib, who adopted a black pit bull mix whose owners were killed in an airstrike.
“A dog needs someone to take care of him, and when you take care of him, he will take care of you,” Shoeib said.