Human-caused damage to the earth’s natural environment has resulted in a number of serious ecological problems, including global warming and rising sea levels.  Human encroachment on natural habitats have been a serious factor in world habitat destruction, especially in the Middle East.

Africa’s natural habitats, particularly wildlife habitats, have been decimated in recent years by human encroachment, poaching, and other human caused activities which could eventually result in many animal species becoming extinct in the wild.

A prime example of human encroachment is occurring in Kenya, where human development activities are threatening natural habitats of many animal species, including lions. A recent  incident involving lions that escaped from the Kenya National Park near the capital Nairobi, resulted in an elderly man being attacked and the lion shot dead by police.

According to a story on the BBC and other news sources, lions have been leaving the national park and coming into populated areas near Nairobi to search for food. The main reason for this happening is being attributed to human infringement on the natural habitat of the lions, resulting in it being more difficult for the lions to find enough animals they depend on for food. Lions and other large African carnivores, like cheetahs and leopards, depend on plains animals like wildebeests, zebras and various species of antelopes as prey. When their natural habitat is made smaller by farming and construction projects, carnivores like lions have more problems in finding food.

This problem is known all too well in the Middle East, where natural animal habitats have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Species like lions disappeared in countries like Jordan, Iran and Israel well over 100 years ago. Other carnivores such as leopards are highly endangered and on the verge of extinction in Israel, Jordan, Oman and other Middle Eastern countries.

As for Africa, continuing human encroachment on natural animal habitats will result in more incidents of lions and other large carnivores paying “visits” to human populated areas.

Read more on human destruction of natural habitats:

It’s not the tide. It’s not the wind. It’s us
Despite ruinous bridge, Saudi and Egypt vow to Protect the sea
Amazing “Atlas” tracks Arab world habitat destruction over time (video)
Emirati Royalty Threaten 48,000 Maasai in Lucrative Hunting Deal

Photo of lion near Nairobi Kenya by the BBC/AFP

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Last week, the Gaza Strip and its zoo witnessed the unprecedented birth of two African lion cubs at the Beesan Zoo, a facility in the northern part of the densely populated Strip that was built and opened by the Islamist Hamas movement. But just three days later, the cubs died, from unknown causes.

The mother lioness, who was discovered to be pregnant nearly six months ago, received extensive medical care, including vaccines, vitamins and good nutrition, before delivering the cubs naturally.

“Immediately after their birth, both cubs were moved into a warmer room to get the necessary care and they were regularly checked by a professional team of local veterinarians,” Shadi Hamad, general manager of the zoo, told The Media Line.

“We called the cubs ‘Fajr’ and ‘Sijeel’ — ‘Fajr’ after Hamas’s Fajr 5 rocket that was launched into Israel during the second war on Gaza, and ‘Sijeel’ after the name that Hamas decided to call the second war on the Strip that took place in November of 2012.”

Sijeel is also mentioned in the Qur’an as fiery rocks that rain down on unbelievers.

The birth of the cubs had taken Gaza by storm, with their pictures going viral on social media. Palestinians say it’s nice to have some good news out of the area that is better known as the site of heavy clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.

“The lioness got pregnant one year ago but suffered a miscarriage during ‘Pillar of Defense’ in November of 2012,” explained Nahed Al-Majdoob, head of security at Beesan Zoo, referring to an eight-day military incursion in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces with hundreds of Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities. “She suffered psychologically, which affected her physically.”

The parents of the cubs are the only lions in Gaza. They were smuggled in from Egypt four years ago, when they were only three months old, through the Rafah tunnels, which previously existed on the border between the Palestinian territory and Egypt. The Egyptian and Israeli armies have since destroyed most of these smuggling tunnels.

“They suffered at first because they were accustomed to the tropical weather of Africa, their origin, while Gaza has a cold winter,” Hamad said. “But they survived.”

The new cubs, too, had to be warmed due to the current cold temperatures in northern Gaza.

“The zoo isn’t well equipped to raise two cubs,” Al-Majdoob said. “Therefore, the Hamas Ministry of Health employed a team of professional local vets to track the health of the cubs and their medical care.”

Gaza’s three small zoos include apes, monkeys, parrots, lions, snakes, ostriches, various kinds of birds and chickens.

Mohammed Jumua owned a small zoo that was completely destroyed by an Israeli rocket in 2008.

“I lost everything,” Jumua told The Media Line. “Most of my animals died. I paid extra to get the animals smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. My collateral damage reached half a million dollars. I was devastated and broke.”

Dr. Saud Shawa, owner and founder of Vetco, Gaza’s first veterinary services center and clinic, said that Gaza doesn’t have the proper capabilities to raise cubs or lions. He predicted that if not done carefully and correctly, the lions could die or become dangerous. His prediction came true three days later.

“Cubs need special care, vaccines, nutrition and vitamins. Not all of them are available in Gaza,” Dr. Shawa said. “Raising lions isn’t easy and needs to be done professionally and safely based on a background and knowledge of that tropical world.”

(This story is reprinted from the Middle East News Source, The Media Line)

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A lion cub belonging to a suspected criminal was shot dead during a police raid in Egypt

The Egyptian police officers who raided the house of wanted suspect in the village of Kafr Essam in north Cairo were probably expecting some resistance but they definitely weren’t expecting a lion to be unleashed on them.  According to local press, the police officers were so shocked by the presence of the lion cub that some jumped from the second floor where the suspect lives to the street below to escape.

Sadly, the police went on to fire 200 bullets killing the lion cub while the wanted suspect managed to escape. A falcon in the suspect’s house was found unharmed. Whilst this story is certainly bizarre, it does illustrate the scale of the illegal trade in wildlife in Egypt as well as animals rights abuses.

This April, protest were held outside Cairo and Giza zoo protesting the poor treatment of animals in zoos such as lions as well as concerns that Egypt had become known as hub of international illegal trade in wildlife.

Mona Khalil of the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA) explained, “At the root of all this is a not only systemic corruption but also policy failure, as Egypt is lacking even the basic animal welfare legislation that would enable the prosecution of violators.

“Some will say that now is not the time to ask for animal’s rights, when human rights are still being violated. But actually there is no better time, as Egypt is trying to build a more just and humane society for all its inhabitants.”

During the revolution in Egypt to overthrow the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, 50 horses and three camels died due to the owners’ inability to reach them or feed them.

It was also recently reported that an Egyptian citizen had purchased a lion to fight and kill in “in an effort to promote tourism in the country.” Bikya Masr reported that the Egyptian had bought the lion for around 25,000 Egyptian pounds in complete violation of international wildlife regulations.

Egypt has a particularly chequered past in terms of animals rights, from holding dolphins to tiny pools to attract tourists to killing the wrong sharks after the Red Sea attacks last year to pacify holiday-makers. Indeed, the tourism industry does appear to play some role in the country’s poor animal rights record- even when misguided Egyptian individuals carry out the abuse.

:: Image via ahram.com

For more on Egypt and wildlife see:

When Tourism and Nature Collide- Protected Land Under Threat In Egypt

Horses: The Silent Victims of Egypt’s Revolution

Interview: Illegal Wildlife Trafficking With Karl Ammann

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After contracting a curable illness, fourteen lions at the Tehran zoo were killed. The Jam-e Jam daily reported that the lions had contracted glanders, a sometimes rapidly fatal disease caused by the bacteria Burkholderia mallei, which is common among domestic animals such as goats and horses.

Veterinarian Houman Moloukpour told the paper that the lions probably contracted the disease as a result of the zoo’s negligence. Though transmitted from animals to humans following prolonged contact, human to human spread is unlikely. Not known to have occurred naturally in the United States since 1940, glanders is still common in Africa, Asia, Central and Latin America, and the Middle East.

According to the Lion Conservation Fund, there are less than 20,000 lions left in the world. Threatened by poaching and retribution (when lions attack livestock) and habitat loss, in just one decade, 90% of the lion population has disappeared.

This is not the first case of animal cruelty reported from the Middle East. Last year scores of activists were outraged to learn about dolphins kept captive in a private Egyptian pool and Lebanese circus animals were subjected to terrible conditions. Also in Egypt, Muslims condemned widespread animal slaughter during  Eid.

:: News 24

More wildlife news from the Middle East:

What Happens When Hyenas Pee On Bedouins

Abu Dhabi’s “Wondering Where The Lions Are”

Where Have All The Leopards Gone?

image via Corey Leopold

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