3 newborn lion cubs a rare joyful sight in war-scarred Gaza, #newborn #lion #cubs #rare #joyous #sight #warscarred #Gaza Welcome to OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Three-day-old lion cubs were spotted in a cardboard box at a Gaza City zoo on Saturday, a rare joyous sight for children and adults alike, just days after Israeli planes and militants hit the area. Gaza fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
Veterinarian Mahmoud al-Sultan said each cub weighed about 700 grams. He said he was lucky that the birth was a success, despite the deafening sound of constant explosions over three days of fighting. The cubs’ mother had suffered miscarriages in the past, al-Sultan said.
Loud noise “causes stress on the wildlife, especially the lions, whose roars get higher, and they continue to move in a circle in the cage,” he said.
The cubs were born on Friday, hours apart, and five days after an Egypt-brokered ceasefire ended fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants. Forty-nine Palestinians, including 17 children, were killed and hundreds injured in the fighting.
Shocks of war are not the only threat to animals. Gaza is impoverished, with double-digit unemployment, largely as a result of a border blockade imposed by Egypt and Israel after Hamas militants took control of the area 15 years ago.
In the past, a number of animals in small private zoos in Gaza died of starvation or were killed in the protracted conflict, which included four Israel-Hamas wars and numerous minor skirmishes.
International animal welfare organizations conducted several evacuations to bring delicate lions and tigers to shelters in Jordan and Africa. The costly effort to rescue animals, while some 2.3 million Gazans are largely trapped in a small area, has also been criticized.
On Saturday, visitors flocked to the small Nama zoo on the outskirts of Gaza City, where children were allowed to pet the newborns. Nama is run by a private charity, putting it in a slightly better position than the small number of private zoos that often struggle to care for the animals.
Schools organize daily trips to the zoo, and the entrance fee is less than $1, which helps cover costs.
The zoo is also home to a variety of birds, along with monkeys, deer, foxes, wolves, and hyenas.