More work needed

Two new rules regulating animal businesses and the ownership of big cats are a welcome step forward, but alone they are not sufficient. Lebanon needs a law governing if and how all types of animals can be brought legally into the country, the conditions in which they’ll be kept and prescribing how violators of such a law will be penalized. More rules are necessary to formalize an industry that, as a whole, has operated without government oversight and with impunity, where poor standards of captivity are the norm, where trafficking is seemingly ubiquitous. If, as several stakeholders hope, Lebanon could one day have a zoo as a sort of national attraction, drawing visitors from all over the country and from neighboring ones too, then it needs an appropriate legislative framework. Such a concept requires long-term thinking, government oversight and demands clear rules for such a business, all while ensuring high