Greetings from American University of Beirut, where more than 1,000 cats roam
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Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Hope you like cats! There are more than 1,000 of them on this campus. About 1,200 actually, although it’s impossible for the staff to count them all because … cats.
About 30 years ago, the American University of Beirut (AUB) started taking in cats abandoned during years of war in Lebanon. During last year’s war with Israel, it gained a few hundred that were dumped at its gate.
AUB has a huge, sprawling campus full of towering trees and green spaces leading down to the Mediterranean Sea (yes, it is as beautiful as it sounds), and a lot of the cats are shy, so it doesn’t get overwhelming.
There are all kinds of cats: purebreds, as well as scrappy street cats. The university spays, neuters and vaccinates them and tries to adopt out the ones it can.
Not everyone is a fan of cats, but students are required to not be mean to them. So the cats meander in and out of open doors. Occasionally they sit in classrooms. And there are lots of students who love them. This is a stressful place in stressful times. Sometimes just petting a cat helps.
See more photos from around the world:
- Greetings from a peaceful woodland near the River Thames west of London
- Greetings from Guhagar, India, where newly hatched turtles get some help into the sea
- Greetings from the Negev desert, where traces remain of a vanished ancient civilization
- Greetings from the Dubai airport, where a long layover can also be a destination
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