Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport is always busy, so keeping it safe is very important. To help with this, trained dogs work with the police to quietly find things like drugs, bombs, and hidden money.
One day, while checking packages in the cargo area, a search dog stopped at a box from Kazakhstan and seemed very upset. Even though the box had passed inspection, the dog’s reaction worried its handler. The box had small holes that looked like air vents. A bomb squad was called, and the area was cleared. When they found no explosives and opened the box, they were shocked to see two small tiger cubs inside. The cubs were weak, dehydrated, and scared, stuck in dirty sawdust with no food or water for days.
Veterinarians quickly came to help, and the cubs—later named Tobby and Sophie—were taken to a shelter, where they slowly got better. An investigation found they had been sold illegally by a zoo in Kazakhstan, and the zoo director was arrested.
Because of one alert dog, the smuggling was stopped, and the two endangered tiger cubs got a new chance at life.