Staff prepare a lion to be transferred from the Gaza Strip's Bisan City tourist village zoo to Jordan through the Erez crossing with Israel in an operation organised by NGO Four Paws. -AFP
AFP/Gaza City
Three traumatised lions entered Israel from Gaza on Tuesday on their way to a safer home in Jordan after their zoo was largely destroyed during the conflict in the Palestinian enclave.
Austrian veterinarians from international animal welfare group Four Paws took charge of bringing the animals from the Al-Bisan zoo in the Gaza Strip to a zoo in Amman, obtaining special permission to pass through Israeli territory.
Amir Khalil of Four Paws said the lions -- two males and a female -- were in desperate need of help after their zoo came under heavy fire during the 50-day conflict, which ended with an August 26 ceasefire.
"The animals are stressed, violent and afraid of the slightest movement," he said. "The animals are very sensitive and the detonations from the bombings and explosions had a very strong impact on them."
The Al-Bisan zoo had four lions before the conflict but one of them -- a female -- was killed by Israeli bombardment.
Khalil said the vets had treated several animals that will remain at the zoo and are suffering from a lack of food and water. They also removed shrapnel from the bodies of several dead animals.
The zoo is hoping to rebuild its lion enclosure so the animals can one day return to Gaza but no potential date has been set for their return.
The animals were caught in the crossfire during a conflict that killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, almost all soldiers. It is also estimated to have caused some six billion euros ($7.6 billion) in damages.
The zoo -- part of Al-Bisan City -- was built by the Islamist Hamas government in 2008 as a tourist village to give Gazans some relief from the hardships of life in the Strip.
The animals were all smuggled through tunnels that connected Egypt to Gaza, before the passages were shut last year with the ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, a key ally of Hamas.
Concerns have previously been raised about the welfare of animals at the zoo, especially given Gaza's limited resources. Last year two lion cubs died at the zoo shortly after birth due to a lack of experienced vets, food and medicine.
