Abandoned lion and the bear, rescued from a zoo of Mosul in Iraq
The only surviving animals in the zoo Mosul rescued from war-torn Iraqi city.
Lion Simba and bear Lula was discovered in a private zoo in February. Cast animals, covered with dirt and feces, continued to live in cages.
International charitable organization “Four paws” came to their aid, and on Monday they were delivered to Jordan.
Nearly six months of fierce fighting in Mosul between the Iraqi army and militants resulted in a large number of casualties among civilians and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
The zoo was almost completely destroyed during the battle for the Eastern half of the city earlier this year, and the majority of animals — including a lioness, monkeys, and rabbits — were killed or died of starvation.
Veterinarian Amir Khalil, who led a mission to rescue wild animals, said Simba and Lula suffered from many diseases related to malnutrition and lack of care when he first saw them in February.
Few weeks the first attempt to export animals did not succeed — the truck with the animals was stopped at a checkpoint.
The truck waited nine days until we received additional permissions. During this time, Simba started to have problems with his lungs.
Khalil promised that now the animals start a new life.