Gaza Zoo destroyed beyond recognition

[Guest guest]

Gulf News article, posted coutesy Diana Hartig. I have puposely

deleted the attached comments. They are however available on the website and

are well worth a read. I am struck speechless by the insanity of this. Thank

you Diana for enlightening all of us.

 

http://gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10278858.html

 

The escaped lions are now back in their enclosure. The firstthing the

Israelis did was shoot at the lions who fled.

Israeli troops shot and killed zoo animals

 

By Ashraf Helmi, Videographer, and Megan Hirons, Photographer

Published: January 25, 2009, 23:25

 

The Gaza Zoo reeks of death. But zookeeper Emad Jameel Qasim doesn't appear

to react to the stench as he walks around the animals' enclosures.

 

*Watch video of Gaza zoo

carnage<http://www.gulfnews.com/gntv/videos/10278777.html>

*

 

A month ago, it was attracting families - he says the zoo drew up to 1,000

visitors each day. He points at the foot-long hole in the camel in one of

the enclosures.

 

" This camel was pregnant, a missile went into her back, " he tells us. " Look,

look at her face. She was in pain when she died. "

 

Around every corner, inside almost every cage are dead animals, who have

been lying in their cages since the Israeli incursion.

 

Qasim doesn't understand why they chose to destroy his zoo. And it's

difficult to disagree with him. Most of them have been shot at point blank

range.

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" The first thing the Israelis did was shoot at the lions - the animals ran

out of their cage and into the office building. Actually they hid there. "

 

The two lions are back in their enclosure. The female is pregnant, and lies

heavily on the ground, occasionally swishing her tail. Qasim stands

unusually close to them, but they don't seem bothered by his presence.

 

As he takes us around, he is obviously appalled at the state of the animals.

The few animals that have survived appear weak and disturbed.

 

" The foxes ate each other because we couldn't get to them in time. We had

many here. " There are carcasses everywhere and the last surviving fox is

quivering in the corner.

 

The zoo opened in late 2005, with money from local and international NGOs.

There were 40 types of animals, a children's library, a playground and

cultural centre housed at the facility.

 

Inside the main building, soldiers defaced the walls, ripped out one of the

toilets and removed all of the hard drives from the office computers. We

asked him why they targeted the zoo. He laughs. " I don't know. You have to

go and ask the Israelis. This is a place where people come to relax and

enjoy themselves. It's not a place of politics. "

 

Israel has accused Hamas of firing rockets from civilian areas. Qasim reacts

angrily when we raise the subject.

 

" Let me answer that with a question. We are under attack. There was not a

single person in this zoo. Just the animals. We all fled before they came.

What purpose does it serve to walk around shooting animals and destroying

the place? "

 

Inside one cage lie three dead monkeys and another two in the cage beside

them. Two more escaped and have yet to return. He points to a clay pot.

" They tried to hide " , he says of a mother and baby half-tucked inside.

 

Qasim says that his main two priorities at the moment are rebuilding the zoo

and taking the Israeli army to court. For the first, he says he will need

close to $200,000(Dh734,000) to return the zoo to its former state - and he

wants the Israelis to cover the costs. " They have to pay me for all this

damage. "

 

We ask him why it's so important for Gaza to have a zoo. " During the past

four years it was the most popular place for kids. They came from all over

the Gaza Strip. There was nowhere else for people to go. "

 

*Has Israel gone berserk and lost all sense of reasoning? Should it be tried

for war crimes at The Hague?*