Gaza Strip | 2015 04 13 | At Abu Sami (owner of the lion cubs). Here with the Rafah lion cubs named Mona and Max and the grandchild of the owner. Gaza Strip | 2015 04 13 | At Abu Sami (owner of the lion cubs). Here with the Rafah lion cubs named Mona and Max and the grandchild of the owner.
Cape Town - A group of animal rescuers are putting their lives on the line to save a pair of lion cubs that have been left stranded in the Gaza Strip.
The lions, named Mona and Max, were discovered when photographs of the pair prowling around a refugee camp in the conflict zone in March were circulated on the internet.
According to FOUR PAWS, which rescues big cats from zoos, circuses and private homes where they are being mistreated, the cubhad been bought by a father of six from the Rafah Zoo as pets for his grandchildren.
“(But) the new ‘pets’ quickly pushed the family to their financial and physical limits,” wrote the organisation in a statement.
Now the cats are five months old and are living with the family, which includes small children, under a single roof.
“That’s why we want to get them out of there as quickly as we can, not least for the people’s safety,” said the organisation’s emergency team leader Amir Khalil.
The doctor has spent weeks seeking out a solution for the cubs. But strict travel and access regulations and dealing with the cubs’ owner had proved to be challenging for him and his team.
“Both cubs have already grown quite a bit bigger and stronger since their arrival in the camp,” he said. “And they now represent a significant danger for inhabitants of the camp.”
FOUR PAWS said it was certain they would get the go-ahead to enter the Strip and rescue the cubs. Their plan is to send a team of vets and logistics staff who will set off to Rafah to rescue the two cubs.
“As soon as the lions are handed over to us, they will be transferred to the New Hope Centre, the transit station of Al Ma’wa Wildlife Sanctuary in Jordan.”
The organisation said travelling in and out of the Strip was extremely difficult, but it’s not the first time they have dispatched a team in the area. In September, they carried out an emergency admission in the heavily-damaged Al-Bisan Zoo in Gaza’s northern region.
In April, another emergency team carried out a relief operation to provide medical treatment and food to animals in the run-down Khan Younis Zoo.
They hope their next mission will be successful.
“We very much hope that the current owner sees sense, and allows us to take the lions. They should be given a beautiful, safe home – and not be sold on to another zoo in the area,” said Khalil.
But how do lions find their way to the Gaza Strip? The organisation said there may be at least 40 big cats being kept by private owners in the area.
“Smuggling of exotic animals is a major problem. Even Mona and Max’s parents are said to have been smuggled to Rafah Zoo as cubs.”
The organisation said smugglers used underground tunnels from Egypt to Gaza, which were destroyed last year by the Egyptian military.
Cape Argus