Suffering animals at Taiz Zoo would have all died, had three volunteers not stepped in to help
ZOO animals trapped in the middle of war-torn Yemen are being reduced to flesh and bone.
Lions and leopards have been left in dirty urine stained cages soaked in blood at Taiz Zoo.
Starving animals are being reduced to flesh and bone in a zoo in the middle of war-torn YeminCredit: Caters News Agency
When civil war broke out, zoo workers fled the enclosures, leaving the animals trapped in their own filth.
Volunteers have been crossing the front line of fighting every day to help care for the lions and leopardsCredit: Caters News Agency
It takes around £2,200 to feed and medically care for the big cats each dayCredit: Caters News Agency
Three volunteers from the SOS Zoo and Bear Rescue group have raised almost £50,000 in order to care for the animalsCredit: Caters News Agency
The volunteers from SOS Zoo and Bear Rescue needs around £2,200 to do this.
But Taiz Zoo also houses monkeys, deer, horses, birds and reptiles, which the funding cannot pay for.
Volunteer Bassam Al-Hakimi (pictured) used to run an internet cafe before the civil war destroyed his businessCredit: Caters News Agency
The volunteers are struggling to support the animals who are starving in their cagesCredit: Caters News Agency
One of Al-Hakimi’s favourite animals at the zoo is a horseCredit: Caters News Agency
“Animals are living beings just like us, they have the right to live in freedom, I help these animals because I’m a human and I cannot see these animals suffer and die of hunger without doing anything, This is our duty as human beings.”
“Of course many of the animals are very sad, when I stand in front of the cage, and hear the sad roar of the lion, and I see his desperate looks, this breaks my heart.
Helping Al-Hakimi are a Dutch banking executive and a lawyer, who volunteer for the groupCredit: Caters News Agency
Al-Hakimi admitted that he had joined in on some anti-government protests before the civil warCredit: Caters News Agency
He told Caters that all animals, like humans, have the right to be freeCredit: Caters News Agency
“Certainly Yemenis have had this war imposed on us and we are paying the price for it, and the animals are most affected because they cannot do something and are just waiting to die in cages.
“We must protect these innocent animals from the dangers of hideous wars that we do as humans, I hope that we can provide a nature reserve where these animals live freely and peacefully one day.”
Chantal Jonkergouw is a Dutch banking executive who lives in Sweden and is helped by Victoria Johner y Cruz, a lawyer living in Geneva.
The volunteers estimate that 12 lions and six leopards died from starvation before donations started coming inCredit: Caters News Agency
A Hyena is trapped inside a urine and blood soaked cageCredit: Caters News Agency
Lions suffer welts and sores as there was no one to care for them after civil war broke outCredit: Caters News Agency
The zoo’s proximity to the front line meant that some flying debris once fell into the snake cageCredit: Caters News Agency
But the pair have found caring for the animals difficult as they need just under £2,500 a day to keep helping the animals.
Chantal Jonkergouw said: “We had difficulties with the hygiene at the zoo, so we had to make it really clean and used the money to help because this was causing bacterial infections in the lions.
But the funding from donors is not able to cover aid for the other animals in the zooCredit: Caters News Agency
Taiz zoo also accommodates monkeys, deer, horses, birds and reptilesCredit: Caters News Agency
When volunteers reached the zoo, they found a large mound of animal carcassesCredit: Caters News Agency
If the volunteers had not stepped in to help, then all the animals would have diedCredit: Caters News Agency
“So the treatment of the animals got worse because of all these things. The people were suffering in the war and the animals tend to be low on the list of priorities obviously.
“We have seen video taken of the dump used by the zoo which was full of dead bodies of animals from there, leopard bodies, lion bodies, before we started working with them.
“It’s life and death essentially, if we and the Tamdeen workers on the ground had not of stepped in the animals would have starved to death essentially.
International charities have proved unwilling to step in and help the suffering animalsCredit: Caters News Agency
The war has made caring for the animals almost impossibleCredit: Caters News Agency
The three volunteers have had to get local contacts and donors in Yemen to help save the animalsCredit: Caters News Agency
They originally aimed to get the animals out of the country to safetyCredit: Caters News Agency