Gaza Strip monkeys, deer sent to West Bank zoo
Palestinian Authority Agriculture Ministry asks Israeli authorities for help after conditions in Rafah facility deemed inhumane
A dozen monkeys and two deer were transported from the Gaza Strip through Israel to the West Bank where they will enjoy a better life, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.
The unusual animal shipment made its way to a facility in Tulkarem after the Palestinian Agricultural Ministry contacted COGAT, Israel’s government coordinator for the West Bank, and asked for assistance in rescuing the animals from a Gaza zoo.
Palestinian officials said the conditions in the zoo, located in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, were inhumane and sought to have the animals moved for their well-being.
The monkeys and deer passed through the Erez crossing into Israeli territory and from there were sent to the a West Bank zoo in the Palestinian city of Tulkarem.
It was the second such shipment in several weeks. In August, some 15 animals, including a tiger, were rescued from a Khan Younis zoo in the Gaza Strip that had been dubbed by activists as the “world’s worst zoo.”
Most of the animals were taken to Israeli zoos or the New Hope Center in Jordan, while the tiger, believed to be the last in Gaza, was flown to a big cat sanctuary in South Africa.