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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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Swollen Rivers Flood Towns in US South after Dayslong Deluge of Rain

The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Swollen Rivers Flood Towns in US South after Dayslong Deluge of Rain

The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Days of unrelenting heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people worsened flooding as some rivers rose to near-record levels and inundated towns across an already saturated US South and parts of the Midwest.

Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.

“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said salon owner Jessica Tuggle, who was watching Monday as murky brown water approached her business in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital along the swollen Kentucky River, The AP news reported.

She said that as each new wave of rain arrived over the weekend, anxious residents hoped for a reprieve so they could just figure out how bad things would get and how to prepare. She and friends packed up everything she could haul out of her salon, including styling chairs, hair products and electronics, and they took it all to a nearby tap house up the hill.

“Everybody was just ‘stop raining, stop raining’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.

Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city as the river was expected to approach a record crest on Monday.

For many, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.

“As long as I’ve been alive — and I’m 52 — this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Wendy Quire, the general manager at the Brown Barrel restaurant downtown.

“The rain just won’t stop,” Quire said Sunday. “It’s been nonstop for days and days.”

Storms leaving devastating impact The 18 reported deaths since the storms began on Wednesday included 10 in Tennessee. A 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.

The National Weather Service warned Sunday that dozens of locations in multiple states were expected to reach a “major flood stage,” with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.

In north-central Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for Falmouth and Butler, towns near the bend of the rising Licking River. Thirty years ago, the river reached a record 50 feet (15 meters), resulting in five deaths and 1,000 homes destroyed.

The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double the level of a decade ago.

Why so much nasty weather? Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

The NWS said 5.06 inches (nearly 13 centimeters) of rain fell Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS said.

Rives, a northwestern Tennessee town of about 200 people, was almost entirely underwater after the Obion River overflowed.

Domanic Scott went to check on his father in Rives after not hearing from him in a house where water reached the doorstep.

“It’s the first house we’ve ever paid off. The insurance companies around here won’t give flood insurance to anyone who lives in Rives because we’re too close to the river and the levees. So if we lose it, we’re kind of screwed without a house,” Scott said.

In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people arrived over the weekend at a storm shelter near a public school clutching blankets, pillows and other necessities. Just days earlier the city was hit by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.

For some, grabbing the essentials also meant taking a closer look at the liquor cabinet.

In Frankfort, with water rising up to his window sills, resident Bill Jones fled his home in a boat, which he loaded with several boxes of bottles of bourbon.