FOUR PAWS, an international animal welfare organization, has sent a veterinary team who began today trying to help the last remaining animals that were left to die in a zoo that was overtaken by ISIS, in the war-torn city of Mosul, in northern Iraq.
Sadly, when they arrived, only a lion and a bear were still alive.
Under Isis rule, the majority of the animals at the Mumtaz al-Nour zoo were either killed or died of starvation. Located in a part of the city that was recently liberated by Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the former zoo was hit by a coalition of bombers; with stray shrapnel and shells killing most of the defenseless animals there.
According to the Daily Mail, the zoo was previously home to four lions.
FOUR PAWS sends aid workers worldwide to rescue bears, big cats and stray animals. They will be working on treating the emancipated animals. Local volunteers have already assisted by feeding the lion and bear and cleaning out dirty cages.
The owner of the zoo, Abu Omar, spoke out earlier this month explaining that “’When the battle intensified, it was impossible for the guard and animal handler to reach them.”
A volunteer sent by the Kurdistan Organization for Animal Rights Protection, Saif al-Bassef, arrived with a month’s supply of food for the critically ill animals.
“It’s shameful to watch the animals struggle, they need help,” he said. “They are not connected to the war.”
Nor are the groups of innocent small children who gather in the ruins of the playground, scarily close to an unexploded bomb and a disused freezer full of ordnance.
Source: Daily Mail
Photo Credit: Getty, Daily Express
