The Last Tiger of the "Worst Zoo in the World" Was Starved for Two Months Waiting for Rescue, but Now He's Living in a Sanctuary
At the Khan Younis Zoo near the Gaza Strip, one tiger was left behind in conditions so dire that rescue came far too late for many of the other animals. The big cat, later identified as Laziz, survived a facility that had been damaged, abandoned, and stripped of basic care.
Four Paws International eventually found him after the zoo staff fled during the conflict, leaving animals without food or water. What they discovered was heartbreaking, with Laziz trapped in his enclosure for weeks and surrounded by the remains of other animals.
His rescue led to a new life at Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa, but his story still carries the weight of everything he endured. Read on.
The zoo was partially damaged by bombs due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Laziz, a tiger, was the only big cat that managed to survive in the rundown facility
Out of the hundreds of animals in the zoo, only 15 remained alive, and Laziz was one of them.
Once the conflict reached a head, the zoo staff fled, leaving the animals without food or water.
Most of the animals found by the Four Paws Organization were already mummified and emaciated.
That was the moment the rescue team realized how bad things had become.
Dr. Amir Khalil, a veterinary surgeon working with Four Paws, stated that Laziz was kept in his enclosure for two months without food.
The sad thing was that he had to stay in his enclosure with the mummified remains of his mate.
Laziz was finally rescued by the organization and moved to the Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in South Africa.
His new home provides him with more room to stretch his paws, as it is 1,000 times bigger than the enclosure he was kept in.
His new surroundings were a world away from the zoo he had known.
And if you want the opposite kind of breakthrough, watch Tarzan and Tanya finally feel grass again, after eight years in a miserable Guatemala circus.
Laziz was quite the superstar when he arrived at the big cat sanctuary.
Despite the horrific events he endured, Laziz was adjusting quite well to his new home.
The sanctuary is fully equipped to care for a traumatized animal like Laziz.
He has actually gained a significant amount of weight since his rescue.
It will take a while for the scars of his past to fade into vague memories, but Laziz has proven himself to be a fighter.
He looks freer in the Lionsrock Sanctuary.
His experiences at the now-closed Khan Younis Zoo are not the only heartbreaking parts of Laziz's life.
As a cub, he was smuggled across the border from Egypt and raised in the confines of the Khan Younis Zoo.
Here's to hoping that the Lionsrock Sanctuary will provide Laziz with a better and happier life.
There is no denying that Laziz had a long, difficult life. Even as a young cub, he was already subjected to the worst treatment from humans.
No animal deserves to be treated the way Laziz has been treated. Thanks to the unwavering efforts of everyone at Four Paws, Laziz will now have a second chance at a significantly better life.
You can watch Laziz play around his new home:
Watch a short clip of his rescue below:
After Laziz survived two months starving, see how a rescued lion finally roared again in an abandoned zoo.
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