Four Paws team to help save starving zoo lions

A RESCUE team from global animal welfare organisation Four Paws is set to arrive in Sudan’s capital Khartoum today, where four lions and other animals are reported to be on the brink of starvation in the Al Qurashi Family Park zoo.

The Sudanese authorities have granted the team, led by Four Paws vet Amir Khalil, permission to enter the country and provide the animals with urgently needed food and medical care. The team is expected to arrive at the zoo today.

The emergency mission is a race against time: one of the original five lions has already died.

Photos of the emaciated lions circulated around the world and caused an international outcry.

Owing to a lack of financial resources, the starving animals could no longer be fed adequately.

“We were shocked by the pictures of the gaunt lions. It was clear to us we had to act quickly because the animals would not last much longer,” Khalil said.

“The highest priority is to stabilise and improve the health condition of the animals, and determine long-term solutions for them,” he added.

In 2016 and 2019, the Four Paws team evacuated three zoos in the Gaza Strip.

In 2017, Four Paws rescued 13 animals from an amusement park near Aleppo in Syria as well as the last two surviving bears and lions from a zoo in Mosul, Iraq. – Staff Writer