Guest guest Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Its the poor lioness I feel sorry for pinning for her cub........... Parrots and lion kidnapped at the point of an AK47From Ian MacKinnon in Jerusalem ARMED and masked robbers kidnapped two prized Arabic-speaking parrots and a lioness cub in a raid on the zoo in Gaza within weeks of its opening. The four gunmen, wielding AK47 assault rifles, bundled the 20kg (44lb) cub, named Sabrina, in a blanket and carted it off, but had to leave its sibling, Fakhra, which was too fierce. Zoo officials offered a $1,000 (£590) reward for information leading to the return of the animals after keeping the theft secret for two weeks in the hope that they could be found by Palestinian police. Detectives have been trying to trace the birds — one white, one grey — and lioness, which consumes up to 3kg of red meat every day. Now Nabil Shaath, Deputy Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, is personally pursuing the matter. The parrots, at the zoo set up and run by the Authority, had been taught to say “marhaba” — hello in Arabic — and repeated it to visitors who went near their cage. The birds also picked up Arabic words uttered by anyone who spoke to them. Their theft follows a long list of growing lawlessness on the streets of Gaza. Gunmen firing wildly in the air burst into polling stations yesterday during voting in primaries for the Fatah party of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President. Police believe that the lion cub, which will weigh up to 130kg when fully grown, was taken by a criminal gang in a display of power. The parrots were among the most valuable creatures in the zoo. Suad al-Shawaa, chairman of the zoo board, believes that the gunmen had first visited the zoo because they seemed to know which animals they were looking for during their 30-minute raid. They burst in to overpower the night guard, tying him up and grabbing several blankets from his office, which they used to trap the lioness in her enclosure. A second blanket was discovered in Fakhra’s cage. “No one would be able to buy or sell this lioness,” Mr al-Shawaa said. “But we have evidence suggesting that the group that did this were not rogue thieves but a criminal gang that came to steal the most beautiful and expensive parrots. “Perhaps having a lioness and parrots in their homes will give them a feeling of superiority, as they were our most prized exhibits.” Zoos in Gaza do not have a happy track record. A zoo in the southern town of Rafah was flattened by Israeli bull-dozers in a week-long army raid last year when many of the animals — a kangaroo among them — were either killed or escaped. Troops also allegedly stole 50 valuable parrots. A claim disputed at the time by the Israeli army. The Valley Vegan...........Peter H How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Photos. Get Photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.