Residents of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli are outraged after reports of a baby being carried by a stray dog surfaced. The baby girl, believed to be four months old, was admitted to hospital after a passerby heard her crying.
The baby, in a black plastic garbage bag, was carried by the dog near a municipal building on Wednesday morning, The National reported. The baby was taken to the Islamic Hospital by the unidentified passerby and then transferred to the government hospital in Tripoli.
Images of the newborn shared on social media showed red bruises on his face. Several citizens condemned the incident while some offered to adopt the abandoned child.
“Some say the dog is an unclean animal and of course that is not true,” one tweeted.
“The dog has a lot more humanity, kindness, cunning and intelligence than some satanic mutants in human form,” the user added.
While another tweeted, “Animals have more compassion than humans.”
Wednesday was also the start of the Islamic New Year, when this incident made headlines. This case of child abuse comes as several other similar incidents have been reported in recent weeks, the outlet reported.
Last week, a crèche employee was arrested and the establishment concerned was permanently closed after the dissemination of videos of child abuse.
According to experts in the country, it is impossible to know whether cases of child abuse are on the rise because there is no central system for tracking statistics, given the financial difficulties faced by state institutions.