Gaza Zoo Puts Stuffed Animals in Cages to Cut the Cost of Feeding Live Ones
- Posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:31am by
Scott Baker
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KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — There is an afterlife for animals at the Khan Younis zoo in the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Animals who die in the dilapidated park return to be displayed as stuffed creatures, giving visitors the unusual zoo experience of petting a lion, tiger or crocodile. But because taxidermy in the largely isolated Palestinian territory is not advanced and expertise and materials are in short supply, the experience can be grim.
Flies swarm around some of the 10 animals that have been embalmed so far. The makeshift cages housing the exhibits — fashioned from fencing salvaged from Jewish settlements that Israel dismantled in 2005 — are littered with empty soda cans and other trash.
An emaciated-looking stuffed lion, its coat patchy and mangy, lies on an exhibit cobbled together from crates and shipping pallets. A monkey had missing limbs. A porcupine had a hole in its head.
The zoo’s 65 live animals, which include ostriches, monkeys, turtles, deer, a llama, a lion and a tiger, don’t fare much better. During a recent visit, children poked chocolate, potato chips and bread through the wire. There’s no zookeeper on the premises. Gaza has no government body that oversees zoos, and medical treatment is done by consulting over the phone with zoo veterinarians in Egypt.
Still, the zoo is one of the few places of entertainment here in Khan Younis, a city of 200,000 people at the southern end of the Gaza Strip. It’s one of five zoos in the Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal enclave of 1.7 million people ruled by Islamic Hamas militants.
Owner Mohammed Awaida said he opened the “South Forest Park” in 2007, only to lose a number of animals during Israel’s military offensive against Hamas that began in December 2008. During the three-week offensive, launched in response to rocket attacks on Israel, Awaida said he could not reach the zoo, and many animals died of neglect and starvation.
AP
“The idea to mummify animals started after the Gaza war because a number of animals like the lion, the tiger, monkeys and crocodiles died,” he said. “So we asked around and we learned from the Web how to start.”
Formaldehyde and sawdust provided the basic tools, though Awaida acknowledges he is no expert.
Gaza‘s zoos are used to resorting to odd ways to get by amid the territory’s multiple woes. In 2009, a zoo in Gaza City exhibited white donkeys painted with black stripes to look like zebras because it was too expensive to replace two zebras who were neglected during the Israeli offensive.
Since Hamas violently took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel has blocked Gaza’s ports, waters and all but one border crossing into Israel. Egypt has also restricted movement through its border crossing, meaning new animals must be smuggled at great expense through an elaborate network of underground tunnels on the Gazan-Egyptian border.
Awaida said all of his animals except the birds came through the tunnels.
Preserving dead zoo animals is not new to Palestinians.
In the West Bank city of Qalqilya, zoo veterinarian Sami Khader turned to taxidermy nine years ago when a giraffe named Brownie died during the second Palestinian uprising against Israel.
Khader, who had extensive training and experience in taxidermy from years working in Saudi Arabia, stuffed Brownie and moved him to the zoo’s museum. Today that museum includes a hyena, wolf, birds, camel, raccoons and a tiger.
Fighting with Israel has since subsided and the zoo maintains close connections with the Ramat Gan Safari outside Tel Aviv. But administrators say that Israeli restrictions still make it cumbersome to get new animals.
“We have more variations and different species as preserved animals than we have living,” said Amjad al-Haj, the zoo’s financial director. “If there will be more restrictions we may end up calling it preserved animals zoo.”
Conditions in Khan Younis — and its zoo — are far worse.
Whereas Khader is a veterinarian and professional taxidermist, Awaida is untrained.
“I use many ingredients for the embalming, not one or two, and the ingredients and method will vary from animal to animal,” Khader said. “It’s not enough to just go read on the Internet.”
And Awaida does not have the contacts with Israeli zoos that Qalqilya has, a reflection of Gaza’s near-complete separation from Israel.
Like the other zoos in Gaza, the Khan Younis facility is virtually unsupervised. There is no animal rights movement in the territory.
Hassan Azzam, director of the veterinary services department in Gaza’s ministry of agriculture, said, “We have humble capabilities,” but the ministry encourages zoos.
However somber the Khan Younis zoo, it does offer entertainment to children.
Samir Amer, 14, snapped pictures of the animals with his mobile phone.
“I have been to this place before years ago but this is my first time seeing mummified animals,” he said. “They look like they are asleep. I will print out the pictures of me standing next to the lion and put it on my wall. It will be fun to show it to my younger brothers.”
___
Dalia Nammari in Ramallah and Daniella Cheslow in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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Comments (95)
trueamerican40
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 12:57pmGo back to Jordan, Egypt, and wherever else–‘Palestinians’: a by word for rejects and a cover for Hamas and Hezbollah. Get away from Jerusalem, so the Israelis can keep an eye on you.
Report Post »thinknotrepeat
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:19pmcheck out the israeli zoo amazing, http://www.codoh.com
Report Post »ShyMan
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 11:09amI’m sending them my jackelope and my fish that sings Dixie when you clap.
Those idiots will love that.
Report Post »G-WHIZ
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 11:53amWe could send them John Carey whom has been a stuffed-polotition for many years and has held-up rather well, connsidering… .(y’a know he was in vietnam?) lol! :o)
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 2:46pmGood one, LMFAO!
Report Post »toto
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:28pmThat animal doesn’t look stuffed, it looks like it had been left out in the desert to dry.
Report Post »Auntie izlam
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:35amMaybe if they looked for the missing millions (that went into the pockets of “officials”) they could afford to feed zoo animals. Or is this just more of the “We’re starving send more money” propaganda by the some of the fattest people in the world? One thing I know for sure, it’s just more of their BS intended to invoke sympathy from the stupid and more money from taxpayers all over the world..
Report Post »toto
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:33pmThey teach their children nothing but war, hate, and fighting, no wonder they can’t even put together a simple zoo. It’s a poverty of the spirit, not of money, from the top down. The poor children don’t have a chance.
Report Post »Watchyer6
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:06amWhat’s the point? All of Gaza has turned into a zoo, filled with animals.
Report Post »Legal Immigrant
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:04amCabela’s
Report Post »jimgag
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:01amYeah that would cut costs alright.
Report Post »db321
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:09amThey had to do something – the King of the World Obama was trying to eat them!
Report Post »dlivelli
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:49amThat sounds like a good idea for Congress! It would be one way to stop them from spending.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:13pmAt least their Government is thinking of ways to cut while are’s is looking to spend.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:14amhA hA, why buy a fifty dollar toy for you’re cat when it could be just as satisfied with a crumpled ball of foil? I wonder if they will start doing this in retirement homes soon, lol.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:41amDisgusting. Close the damn zoos!
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:29amDisgusting??? How is this different than all the stuffed animals we have at museums or the ones in people’s private collections? I regret to see how displaying taxidermy animals is “disgusting”. However, those animals look like they were done by a guy who does not do taxidermy for a living.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:40pmIf the creatures aren’t alive and moving, then what’s the point of having a “zoo” in the first place? What a bunch of idjits!
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:16pmYeah, Jes.. it’s called a museum. We have those already.
Report Post »lfeline
Posted on April 25, 2012 at 2:21pmThe disgusting thing is not the taxidermy, that’s a good idea. The disgusting and disturbing thing is they‘re smuggling in more live animals that they can’t take care of!
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:40am.
Report Post »PETA Gaza is calling…….
Itsjusttim
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:30amIt‘s rather funny that people who claim they have ancient knowledge don’t really know how things work. They think they can create a land, by which counting the stars, and then they will be the King of the land. No, it doesn’t work that way, but I’m sure the time and money you put into it is good for the economy…lol.
Report Post »qpwillie
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:48amWe Blazers get all our knowledge from you, Timmy so I‘m sure we’re in good hands.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:06amHey Tim, I just wanted to let you know that YER F#%#IN CRAZY! Man where the hell did you pick up these loopy ideas, and where do you get off acting like you can fix the world with them?
Report Post »I see you pop up in over half of the rooms that I enter. Occasionally you actually say something rational but the rest of it seems to be a convoluted mixture of conspiracy theories, religious fanaticism, drug induced ramblings and a thorough brainwashing from the television show Ancient Aliens. A lot of real stuff is going on in the world right now so stop playing teacher to the rest of us and get you’re head examined.
kabenninger
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:07pmI would really like to know if ANYONE gets a clear message from what you’re saying – it’s all gobbledeegook to me – but then, I am getting old.
Report Post »PCKaz
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:14pmWhat?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:29amHey Gaza: Such a Deal; We have Liberal Mannequins & Zombies for you!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:50amIf people want to see animals, why even go to a zoo, why not go to the open field’s and forests? Oh I know why, because we all aren’t the same are we? Some people are scared to death of beasts, because the beasts are not scared of them.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:37amSee, ur crazy. Wtf is wrong with u. Why don’t u go and live in the forest? Why not be free and commune with nature? hmm could it be because there is no electricity and no internet out in the wilderness……….?
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:45amIf muslims had there way it would be a stuffed jew zoo .
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:01amWhat came first, the spirit or the Jew? DNA has got nothing to do with it.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:05amJust as Abram was a spirit, and then became flesh as Abraham.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:10amThe Lord brought the spirit Abram to the people, and told Abram if you can count the stars I will give you this land, and surely he must have counted the stars, and Abram became Abraham. Where are the stars now?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:34amWhat came first the chicken or the egg? That’s a false question, because the spirit came first to name it an egg and chicken.
Report Post »4truth2all
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:34amAbraham ate the stars, and is now an eternal spirit guiding the stars to tranquility and peace. Had this not happened the stars would have eaten mankind, and Abraham would have gone hungry.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:55amBefore time, before reality, before the universe existed a being known as Wankadoodle sucked up all of the raw energy existed. Then he danced and formed elements and patterns within his gullet. As the raw materials interacted they caused him great pain so he spat and the planets and stars came to be. Then he coughed and the cosmos began to swirl and assume a life of it’s own.
Follow children to the egg that glows and watch for the otter of deception because otters do not lay eggs thus this otter is sinner who has taken from his brother platypus.
See Timmy, I can do it too. you are one crazy dude, you know that:)
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:59amlol 4truth!
Tim…I really hated the way Burdendsoul does you above…But he is right dude. You have serious issues.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:32amcrap my keyboard is almost out of batteries so a couple of words never made it in above (energy that existed + otter is a sinner) but I hope u still get the point. Btw, I am a Catholic, and a conservative. I simply wanted to show how easy it is for a suggestible individual to buy into Tim’s crap. After running into crazy Timmy in about 3 dozen forums I have had enough of his ramblings. Most of these forums are dominated by his trolling which is mostly never on topic and is usually based on a reality that normal, not crazy people, can’t really connect to.
Report Post »I have to admit that he has created a genius persona that both attracts and repels for the same reasons. I have an in-law that is schizophrenic and he does the same thing when he is off of his meds. Anything can have a deep meaning or belief imposed upon it If the person in question simply wants to form a strong belief system out of desperation in order to hide from pain or trauma.
lukerw
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 11:21am@BURDEN….
Report Post »You should read… the Necronomicon… for kicks :)
burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 4:46pmThe Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft’s 1924 short story “The Hound”,[1] written in 1922, though its purported author, the “Mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in Lovecraft’s “The Nameless City”.[2] Among other things, the work contains an account of the Old Ones, their history, and the means for summoning them.
Other authors such as August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith also cited it in their works; Lovecraft approved, believing such common allusions built up “a background of evil verisimilitude.” Many readers have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for it; pranksters have listed it in rare book catalogues, and a student smuggled a card for it into the Yale University Library’s card catalog.[3]
Capitalizing on the notoriety of the fictional volume, real-life publishers have printed many books entitled Necronomicon since Lovecraft’s death.
So which one do u recommend I read?
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:50pmITSJUSTTIM has an amazing bunch of gobbeldegook. Is this how Scientology started?
Report Post »ZAP
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:41amCut down on the missiles into Israel and they could afford food for the animals
Report Post »4truth2all
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:37amNo … this is all the Jews fault …. look how they deprive the children!
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:57amyeah, lets blame the Jews. Hmmm, when in history did that ever go wrong?
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:04amI think it was sarcasm.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:37amhmm,u may have a point. idk…..
Report Post »disgustedAmerican
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:40amStuffed animals in a zoo.. Last I checked, they call that a museum.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 5:59pmBut when it’s outside in the hot sun, with flies and trash everywhere, it’s called a charnel site full of mummifying corpses.
Report Post »EP46
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:35amThey heard obama was coming to visit !!!
In Dreams of My Father…..obama ate dog …tough, snake meat…tougher, and roasted grasshopper.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 10:02amYeah, i bet that‘s not the worst thing that he’s ever had in his mouthXD
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:29amMaybe thats what we should do in the White House…………..
Report Post »Bro Geo Too
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:29amPeople for the Edible Treatment of Animals (PETA) might consider bringing such changes to American zoos.
Report Post »Lone Ranger
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:14amThe animal lovers’ Madame Tussauds.
Report Post »pwatkins
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:10amThe best Tea Party POTUS would be a stuffed one.
Report Post »Pink_Panther_Party
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:10amThis is not a bad idea, coming from an area where most men “go to work” in the morning in “jobs” related to terrorism.
Hey, maybe they could stuff Yasser Arafat and put him on display for the paying crowds. If he has already deteriorated too much, maybe his NOSE could be salvaged and pressed into service as a long-term tourist attraction? Get a wax dummy of Bill Clinton and maybe Anna Nicole pretending to co-sign the Oslo Accords and …….heck…….I’d pay a dollar to see that!
(of course, the presentation would have to be tasteful…..)
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:14pmDid you know that Yasser Arafat’s fat, ugly widow is still partying all over the world and acting like a socialite with the billions in foreign aid money that the United States gave him to help the Palestinian people? And we can never get it back, because she and her operatives have it locked up tight in Swiss bank accounts under different (untraceable) names. Meanwhile, the Palestinian people are sleeping on the ground, eating garbage, and drinking rancid water that will give them intestinal parasites. And you wonder why their kids’ only aspiration in life is to blow themselves up on a bus full of Israeli schoolchildren. There’s so much evil in the world that it positively enrages you.
Report Post »grannyrecipe
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:49amWOW, LOL LOL LOL To see such effort at engaging into something so stupid! LOL LOL LOL. Jimmy, lets go to the zoo and see some obviously crispy animals LOL.
Report Post »qpwillie
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:46amI saw the video where they had painted stripes on the donkey. I was wondering if when they ran out of snakes, they would chop the legs off the lizards.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 9:25amhmm, yeah they could mutilate a bunch of different animals and then have kids try to piece them together in creative ways. Kudos to the first psycho-kid that forms a Chimera, lol.
Report Post »countryfirst
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 6:46amWhat a great idea, let’s start placing manikins in Washington. Would only need housecleaning to dust them off. Of course NON-Union housecleaning
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