Diana Babish, a devoted and dedicated animal savior for the pets of the West Bank works long and hard to ensure her pets live the life they deserve. Remember when the mayor of Hebron offered $20 for a truck of dead dogs? She saved the day.
Founder of the Animal Environment Association (AEA), Diana Babish works overtime to support not just her own life, but also the lives of thousands of animals.
While Diana works overtime at the animal shelter, she is also the manager of the tourist bus station for the municipality in Bethlehem. Before she took on this job, she worked as a bank manager for many years and got her master’s degree in Bethlehem in corporations and development. Still, as Diana works her full-time job, she never gives up on making a large commitment to working in and running the shelter.
Located in the West Bank in Bethlehem, the AEA Bethlehem Shelter strives each and every day to treat, care, and rehome dogs, cats, and even donkeys. However, the AEA struggles to keep up with the continuous transport of animals, as the AEA is a non-profit and does not receive any support from the government. The AEA is the first and only shelter located in the West Bank, so it is especially hard to take care of all of these animals. In addition, the AEA is looking for more recognition, more financial support, and more volunteers.
In the past year, 4,000 dogs were brought into the shelter and over 600 cats. Unfortunately, when the animals are brought in, they are typically in bad shape. Commonly with severe problems that need immediate medical attention. Diana sees animals daily with ticks, skin problems, dehydration, broken limbs, and diseases of all kinds.
“It’s difficult work,” Diana tells Green Prophet: “so many cases that tear you apart: abused animals, maggots eating their flesh, poisoned and shot”. For Diana personally, she took home a dog from the shelter that was shot 8 years ago. Still to this day, Diana periodically needs to buy her dog medicine because its lungs were permanently damaged and therefore cannot stop coughing.
Sometimes, when an animal is struggling to find a home, Diana adopts it as her own. Today, Diana has 7 dogs, two of which recently came from the shelter. “They deserve a better life,” Diana said. “Any number they need I take them.”
Shelters in Israel are over capacity, and the AEA is only 200 meters. So it’s not only a struggle to take care of the sick pets, but to also have room for them. Not having enough room for them also means not having enough resources to take care of them. Even so, the shelter struggles to have the necessary technology to diagnose pets with whatever disease they are struggling with.
Ryder: a dog available for adoption at the AEA Shelter in Bethlehem
The AEA relies on donations in order to keep up with their best work, but even that is not enough. Sometimes the shelter receives sponsors from organizations but is in desperate need of more help. Diana would like to see more funds coming in to help rehome, afford materials, and pay vets. She also wants more support both locally and abroad.
Diana strives to spread her good work beyond the realm of animals. She actively goes to schools and teaches children how to be better for the environment. For example, Diana teaches children to close the tap, not to throw things out the car window, etc. She also gives lectures to adults on how to better treat the environment. She lectures to adults via PowerPoint, teaching preservations measures and disease prevention and treatment.
School visit where Diana brought in animals from the shelter for educational purposes via https://www.bethlehemshelter.org/
In order to help preserve of the environment, Diana and her other volunteers created tenets for the animals with recycled tires. They collected tires, wooden pallets, and iron pallets and were able to make a tent so the shelter could home more animals.
I strongly encourage everyone to check out the AEA Shelter in Bethlehem and give recognition to Diana and all her hard work. I also strongly advise people all over the world to adopt their pets from shelters. The AEA Shelter in Bethlehem does abroad adoptions to countries such as the U.S., Canada, and many countries in Europe. To find out more information on animals available for adoption, check out the AEA’s Facebook Page.
Please make a donation to the AEA Shelter in Bethlehem, as every donation makes a difference. Even if its 1 shekel a month, this can add up to help save lives of animals in desperate need of attention. And if you are in the area, I encourage you to check out the shelter. The shelter is in desperate need of more volunteers, resources, food, and love and attention from the public.
Please use this link to make donations
Whatsapp +972 595 221 771
Instagram: @Aeabethlehemshelter
Author: Danielle Meyers
Danielle Meyers is an Environmental Science major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst interested in environmental law and policy. She took an interest in studying the environment once she learned about the worsening effects of climate change. Danielle enjoys going on adventures, the beach, shopping, and seeing friends and family. She is reporting from Tel Aviv in the Summer of 2023 to to learn, discover, and inspire change in the community and throughout the Middle East.
