The normally cat-friendly AUB campus has recently seen a series of sinister kitten killings close to its Issam Fares Institute.
A post Saturday by a staff member under the alias “Mu Han Nad” on AUB’s official Facebook page detailed his discovery of five “smashed” kittens by the Zaha-Hadid-designed building.
Among the hundreds of outraged comments, likes and shares, student Carla Sertin shared her eyewitness account of one of the killings. While sitting on the oval lawn last Wednesday, she noticed a man by the IFI who sat down on a bench with a kitten in his lap.
“He was moving his arms, and I thought he was petting the kitten, but [he] was glancing furtively from side to side ... My friends and myself heard a very loud meow ... and then he got up ... When I saw him running I realized something was very wrong,” she said, finding the kitten “under the bench, bleeding and motionless.”
Sertin described the man as “relatively tall but not very large” with light skin and “very short, dark hair.”
Cat feeder Zena Jureidini also told The Daily Star she found three murdered kittens by IFI Friday. The Protection Office is investigating the matter, but Captain Saadallah Shalak emphasized Tuesdayit did not “have anything to report. Many times, some cats kill their kittens,” he said, adding, “We don’t have a witness.”
Dean of Student Affairs Talal Nizameddin told The Daily Star Wednesday, “There’s no doubt there is this person out there.”
He said it was unclear whether the killer was a student or how many kittens had been victimized. He has been in contact with Sertin, and said the Protection Office was interviewing a few students who had seen suspicious incidents
In particular, the Protection Office was seeking “specific identifying features that might help match existing pictures of possible culprits.” He said that the photos were not taken by students, but was unclear as to how the office had got hold of them.
“We have had individuals who have hurt cats, but they didn’t actually kill them. This person is acting in an extreme fashion, so this is why the community is shocked. If you can harm kittens, you have very little empathy for other living things ...They are beautiful creatures and animals have rights and feelings too.”
The 300-strong cat community is protected by an official policy that forbids “deliberately caus[ing] harm to cats or any other living animal on AUB property.” Nizameddin noted his office has a range of disciplinary measures at its disposal. He acknowledged the outrage over the killing, while noting, “We may be dealing with someone who badly needs psychological help.”
By Alexis Lai
