Animals Rescued from Gaza Zoo, Brought Into Israel

Erez Crossing (TPS) – The last few animals remaining at the Khan Yunis Zoo arrived at the Erez Crossing on Wednesday morning to be brought into Israel in an intense effort to rehabilitate the animals and find them a better home.

“We believe that this is an important mission and we are doing it out of a desire to help these animals, which did not receive the care that they needed,” said Erez Crossing Director Shlomo Tzavan.

The operation, dubbed “Operation Safari,” brought 15 animals into Israel from the Khan Yunis Zoo. The animals were sedated and brought in specially designed cages. The Agriculture Ministry said that the wildlife would be taken to zoos in Jordan, South Africa, Moshav Ben Shemen, and the Ramat Gan Safari.

Operation Safari was conducted in cooperation with Four Paws, an NGO that promotes animal rights, which worked with the Agriculture Ministry, the Defense Ministry, and the IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to transfer the animals.

The Khan Yunis Zoo had often been called “the world’s worst zoo” for the inferior habitat it afforded its wildlife. The 15 animals, which included a monkey, a tiger, a deer, and several other rarities, were the few that remained of the 100 animals that had lived there at one point. Israel also took in the zoo’s five lions over a two-year span and transferred them to a Palestinian zoo in Judea and Samaria.