Animals Evacuated From Gaza Zoo Dubbed ‘Worst In The World’

The last of the animals have been evacuated from what has been dubbed the world’s worst zoo. The small zoo in the Gaza town of Khan Younis was shut down this week. It had been dubbed the world’s worst zoo after many of the animals on display were seen either staving or dead. An animal rights organization, Four Paws International, facilitated relocating the animals to facilities that can better care for them.

The owner of the Khan Youniszoo is twenty-four year old Mohammad Oweida. Mohammad told Reuters that he had been struggling to feed the animals since 2014. Providing for the animals had not been a problem since the zoo opened in 2007. The problem came when supply chains and infrastructure were destroyed during the war between Palestinian militia groups and Israeli forces that summer. The war lasted seven weeks but many in the area have yet to recover. Mohammad has seen over 200 of his animals die in the past two years. Many of them died as a result of starvation/ Their corpses lie in their cages, mummified from the hot desert sun. Some, however, were killed as a direct result of the conflict. The cost of keeping the animals fed was around $65 dollars per day. The economic conditions of the area became an obstacle with less and less people visiting the park. Mohammad began to sell off his animals in order to feed those that remained.

Most of them will relocate to an animal sanctuary. Lazi, however, an eight year old Bengal tiger, will be taken to a shelter for large cats. In all, fifteen animals were removed from the zoo. Among the rescued were monkeys, porcupine, long-legged buzzards, turtles, an emu, a deer and a pelican. The five monkeys that were rescued will find a home at the Ben Shemen Monkey Park’s sanctuary. This zoo is a sad case as it shows that humans aren’t the only ones who suffer as a result of conflict.

The Khan Younis zoo is not the only zoo in the area who has been hit with economic strife. The Rafah Zoo in Gaza was hit by an economic downturn as a result of Israeli blockades last year. The zoo has survived for over twenty-five years but as a result of the conflict in the area, many of the tourists have stopped coming. After being destroyed by Israeli tanks in 2004, the zoo was rebuilt only to resurface to dire economic conditions. The Rafah zoo, like Kahn Younis, has lost many of its animals to direct conflict and starvation.

Four Paws International, the group responsible for the animal rescue, had been monitoring the animals and making arrangements for their rescue since earlier this year. The group found partners in a big cat sanctuary, Lionsrock in South Africa, and in the New Hope Center for rescued animals in Jordan. With their task accomplished they can set their sites on some of the other zoos in the area whose animals have met the same fate.

https://www.rt.com/viral/357051-worst-gaza-zoo-closes/

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gaza-worst-zoo-world-closes-after-charity-rescues-last-15-animals-1577839