Palestinian children stand near two-month-old lion cubs at the zoo in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
The owner of a private zoo in the Gaza Strip has put three lion cubs up for sale, saying he can no longer afford to feed them.
Mohammad Ahmad Jumaa took to social media to advertise the animals at 3,500 Jordanian dinars ($5,000) each.
“Because of the bad economic situation and the difficulty of finding food and drink [for the animals], I was forced to put up for sale three cubs born around a month ago,” he said.
He said he needed the money to pay for the upkeep of the rest of his pride — two male and three female lions.
Ahmad Joma’a, a zoo worker, holds two-month-old lion cubs at the zoo in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017.(AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Jumaa, who has owned the animal park in Rafah on the border with Egypt for 23 years, said feeding his animals costs around $345 a month.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
He had named the cubs Palestine, Al-Quds (Jerusalem in Arabic), and Erdogan (after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan).
He had received calls about the advert on Facebook but has so far not sold any of the cubs.
In 2016, a tiger, two turtles, two eagles, two porcupines, a pelican, an emu, and a deer were transferred from a dilapidated Gaza zoo to new homes in South Africa, Jordan, and Israel.
Advertisement
A Palestinian youth holds a two-month-old lion cubs while children watch at the zoo in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017.(AP Photo/Adel Hana)
There have been frequent incidents in the past of Palestinians smuggling exotic animals into the Hamas-run enclave and then being unable to care for them properly.
Israel and Egypt impose a strict blockade on the Strip aimed at preventing Hamas from smuggling in arms and materials to build tunnels and fortifications, while Hamas routinely diverts aid to its armed forces.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
