2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

The Lebanese have other things to worry about than animal rights. But Beta, Beirut for the ethical treatment of animals, whose sole purpose is to fight animal cruelty, had one mission. Get the Lebanese dogs off the violent ruthless streets of Lebanon and into loving homes. So how do we get the Lebanese to adopt the stray dogs when they have other things to worry about? We don’t. It’s not about finding homes for these dogs in Lebanon. It’s about finding a loving home for these dogs anywhere in the world. This is how the expat pet program was born. A program that allows people from all around the world to adopt the Lebanese dogs. We spread the news of the program through various PR and Media channels within our very limited budget: talk shows, blogs, online banners and social media channels, directing the entire world to a website: xpatpets.com. Less than a month into the campaign, we saw a drastic increase in people’s interest in BETA’s cause. 400% increase in the users on the BETA website and 600% increase in the foreign users on the BETA website. As for adoption requests, they began pouring in, with an increase of 200%. Finally, the Lebanese stray dogs found loving homes abroad. But surprisingly, 70% of the adoption requests also came from the Lebanese. Beta’s act of sending the dogs abroad was perceived so extreme, it put animal rights back on top of their list. A few weeks later, to everyone’s surprise, the Lebanese Council of ministers gave the animal protection and welfare law, against animal cruelty, their official approval.