Egypt horse rescuers’ truck attacked by looters – volunteer negotiates with mob
by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
Members of an animal rescue group trying to help starving horses and camels in Cairo, Egypt report that looters surrounded their truck and stole bags of feed Tuesday.
However Beth Sartain, a veterinary nurse and volunteer with Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA), says she stopped the assault by jumping into the horse-drawn carriage driven one of the mob and refused to get out until he and others listened to an explanation of ESMA’s mission.
Sartain’s description of the incident:
We drove into the village of Nazlet El Saman, with the truck in front of several cars of volunteers from ESMA. I was in the car directly behind the truck with Susie Nassar, one of the founding members of ESMA, and my two daughters who had come along to help.
Starving Egyptian horse to receive emergency feed rations from ESMA Photo: ESMA volunteers
ESMA volunteer Beth Sartain took this photo while sitting in the looter's carriage Photo: Beth Sartain
People from the village on horseback had recognised us and had already started to follow the truck. When the truck slowed down to negotiate a speed bump the local people were so desperate to get feed for their animals they mobbed the truck.
There were dozens of men grabbing sacks of food and trying to ride off with it. I told my children to stay in the car with Susie and ran over to the truck.
I shouted at the men to stop taking the food as we were trying to help them. Some did stop but many didn't.
I noticed one man had loaded 3 sacks of food into his carriage. I was so angry I jumped into the carriage and sat on the food and told him if he wanted the food he would have to take me too.
He set off at a gallop down the road with me pleading with him to stop and trying to explain to him we wanted to offer long term help but couldn't if this was how we were treated.
He listened and stopped his horse. He shouted to many of his friends who were riding past with the stolen food to stop and they did.
They crowded around and listened to me as I explained that we were doing our best to help but we needed them to co-operate. The man I was with turned the carriage around and drove back to the place where the truck had been mobbed.
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is the author of 17 novels for publishers including Avon, E.P. Dutton, and Simon & Schuster, and hundreds of articles for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, and Veggie Life. She wrote a teleplay for CBS and short fiction for The Bark magazine. With coauthor Shelley Frost, she wrote Your Adopted Dog (The Lyons Press). Holding a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and a lifelong interest in animal issues, she spends a lot of her time battling a severe addiction to dogs.
