FOUR PAWS cares for starving animals in Sudan
Four lions have already lost two thirds of their natural body weight
Boston, January 24th 2020 – Help for suffering animals in Sudan is coming. A rescue team from FOUR PAWS – the global animal welfare organization – is on its way to the capital Khartoum, where big cats and other animals are on the brink of starvation at the Al Qurashi Family Park zoo.
The Sudanese authorities have granted the team, led by FOUR PAWS veterinarian Dr. Amir Khalil, permission to enter the country and provide the animals with urgently needed food and medical care. The FOUR PAWS team is expected to arrive at the zoo on Monday, January 27th. However, the emergency mission is a race against time: one of the original five lions has already died.
In the past few days photos of the emaciated lions circulated across the world and caused an international outcry. Due to a lack of financial resources, the starving animals could no longer be fed adequately.
“We were shocked by the pictures of the gaunt lions. It was clear to us that we had to act quickly because the animals would not last much longer,” remarked Dr. Amir Khalil. “As soon as we are on site, we will provide the severely malnourished lions with proper food and medical care. The highest priority at the moment is to stabilize and improve the health condition of the animals, and determine long-term solutions for them.”
It is not the first time FOUR PAWS has helped in a crisis.
In 2019, FOUR PAWS completed its largest rescue mission to date saving 47 animals from the Rafah Zoo in Gaza. In 2017, FOUR PAWS entered a conflict zone near Aleppo, Syria to rescue 13 animals from the Magic World Zoo near Aleppo, Syria. The team also saved the last two surviving bears and lions from a zoo in Mosul, Iraq in 2017 and evacuated zoos in the Gaza strip in 2016.
“We go where no one else can go to save animal lives in dire need,” remarked Danika Oriol- Morway, the new Country Director of FOUR PAWS USA based in Boston, MA. “When animals are in crisis, FOUR PAWS is committed to being courageous, strategic, and to give it our all to help animals in need. It's important for us to be able to support animals and communities across the globe.”
FOUR PAWS has been helping animals in need for over 30 years. With its international headquarters based in Vienna, Austria and its national headquarters based in Boston, MA, FOUR PAWS aims to provide intervention, awareness, and life- long species appropriate care for animals.
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FOUR PAWS is the global animal welfare organization for animals under direct human influence, which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need, and protects them. Founded in 1988 in Vienna by Heli Dungler and friends, the organization advocates for a world where humans treat animals with respect, empathy, and understanding. FOUR PAWS’ sustainable campaigns and projects focus on companion animals including stray dogs and cats, farm animals and wild animals – such as bears, big cats, and orangutans – kept in inappropriate conditions as well as in disaster and conflict zones. With offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA and Vietnam, as well as sanctuaries for rescued animals in eleven countries, FOUR PAWS provides rapid help and long-term solutions. www.fourpawsusa.org