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In the Gaza Strip Pet a Lion, Declawed

Palestinian children look through the bars of a cage at the declawed lioness at the Rafah Zoo in the southern Gaza Strip on February 12, 2019. (AFP)
Palestinian children look through the bars of a cage at the declawed lioness at the Rafah Zoo in the southern Gaza Strip on February 12, 2019. (AFP)
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In the Gaza Strip Pet a Lion, Declawed

Palestinian children look through the bars of a cage at the declawed lioness at the Rafah Zoo in the southern Gaza Strip on February 12, 2019. (AFP)
Palestinian children look through the bars of a cage at the declawed lioness at the Rafah Zoo in the southern Gaza Strip on February 12, 2019. (AFP)

A zoo in the war-battered Palestinian enclave of Gaza is promoting itself as offering the chance to play with a lion, who has been declawed but still has its teeth.

The 14-month lioness, called Falestine, is supposed to be placid enough to meet visitors to the park in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"I'm trying to reduce the aggression of the lioness so it can be friendly with visitors," said Mohammed Jumaa, 53, the park's owner.

It is the latest unconventional animal care practice in Gaza, where a few dilapidated zoos compete for business, said an AFP report on Wednesday.

Fayez al-Haddad, the veterinarian who operated on Falestine two weeks ago, watched her behavior closely Tuesday as she was briefly taken out of her cage to be near local residents, including children.

"The claws were cut so that they would not grow fast and visitors and children could play with her," Haddad said.

There is no specialized animal hospital in Gaza so the operation was carried out at the zoo, which lacks the proper facilities.

He denied that it was cruel to the animal.

"We want to bring smiles and happiness to children, while increasing the number of visitors to the park, which suffers from high expenses."

"(The lioness) does not lose its innate nature."

But the Paw Project, an NGO which rehabilitates big cats, charges that declawing is inhumane and can maim the felines.

The cramped zoo in Rafah has five lions, including three cubs, along with a few birds and other animals.

It was destroyed during an Israeli army bulldozing operation in Rafah in 2004, before Jumaa re-established it two years ago.

A group of laughing children were watching from the other side of a low fence as Falestine was briefly shown out of her cage Tuesday for the first time since her operation.

She interacted and played with zoo keepers, though for now guests were kept slightly apart as AFP watched.

At times the lioness looked stressed, trying to scratch its nonexistent claws on a tree.

12-year-old Anas Abdel Raheem insisted he wasn't scared as he leaned on the fence.

"I am happy because I played with the lion and it did not bite me or tear my clothes," he told AFP.

"My friends saw the pictures I posted on Facebook and WhatsApp."

Haddad warned, however, that the claws grow back within six months.

"Lions will not give up their offensive instincts."

Gaza is home to two million Palestinians but has been blockaded by Israel for more than a decade.

There are a number of small zoos, each with poor conditions.

Last month, a litter of lion cubs froze to death at one.

In 2016, the last animals were evacuated from what had been dubbed “the world's worst” zoo, also in southern Gaza.

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Varieties

China's Population Falls for 3rd Straight Year

A delivery worker sits on a delivery vehicle along a street in Beijing on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP)
A delivery worker sits on a delivery vehicle along a street in Beijing on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP)
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China's Population Falls for 3rd Straight Year

A delivery worker sits on a delivery vehicle along a street in Beijing on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP)
A delivery worker sits on a delivery vehicle along a street in Beijing on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP)

China's population fell last year for the third straight year, its government said Friday, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world's second most populous nation, which is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working age people.
China's population stood at 1.408 billion at the end of 2024, a decline of 1.39 million from the previous year, The Associated Press reported.
The figures announced by the government in Beijing follow trends worldwide, but especially in East Asia, where Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and other nations have seen their birth rates plummet. China three years ago joined Japan and most of Eastern Europe among other nations whose population is falling.
The reasons are in many cases similar: Rising costs of living are causing young people to put off or rule out marriage and child birth while pursuing higher education and careers. While people are living longer, that's not enough to keep up with rate of new births.
Countries such as China that allow very little immigration are especially at risk.
China has long been among the world’s most populous nations, enduring invasions, floods and other natural disasters to sustain a population that thrived on rice in the south and wheat in the north. Following the end of World War II and the Communist Party’s rise to power in 1949, large families re-emerged and the population doubled in just three decades, even after tens of millions died in the Great Leap Forward that sought to revolutionize agriculture and industry and the Cultural Revolution that followed a few years later.
After the end of the Cultural Revolution and leader Mao Zedong's death, Communist bureaucrats began to worry the country’s population was outstripping its ability to feed itself and began implementing a draconian “one child policy.” Though it was never law, women had to apply for permission to have a child and violators could face forced late-term abortions and birth control procedures, massive fines and the prospect of their child being deprived an identification number, effectively making them non-citizens.
Rural China, where the preference for male offspring was especially strong and two children were still ostensibly allowed, became the focus of government efforts, with women forced to present evidence they were menstruating and buildings emblazoned with slogans such as “have fewer children, have better children."
The government sought to stamp out selective abortion of female children, but with abortions legal and readily available, those operating illicit sonogram machines enjoyed a thriving business.
That has been the biggest factor in China’s lopsided sex ratio, with as many as millions more boys born for every 100 girls, raising the possibility of social instability among China’s army of bachelors. Friday’s report gave the sex imbalance as 104.34 men to every 100 women, though independent groups give the imbalance as considerably higher.
More disturbing for the government was the drastically falling birthrate, with China’s total population dropping for the first time in decades in 2023 and China being narrowly overtaken by India as the world’s most populous nation in the same year. A rapidly aging population, declining workforce, lack of consumer markets and migration abroad are putting the system under severe pressure.
While spending on the military and flashy infrastructure projects continues to rise, China’s already frail social security system is teetering, with increasing numbers of Chinese refusing to pay into the underfunded pension system.
Already, more than one-fifth of the population is aged 60 or over, with the official figure given as 310.3 million or 22% of the total population. By 2035, this number is forecast to exceed 30%, sparking discussion of changes to the official retirement age, which one of the lowest in the world. With fewer students, some vacant schools and kindergartens are meanwhile being transformed into care facilities for older people.
Such developments are giving some credence to the aphorism that China, now the world’s second largest economy but facing major headwinds, will “grow old before it grows rich.”
Government inducements including cash payouts for having up to three children and financial help with housing costs have had only temporary effects.
Meanwhile, China continued its transition to an urban society, with 10 million more people moving to cities for an urbanization rate of 67%, up almost a percentage point from the previous year.