Monkeys from Saudi Arabia, lamas from Lima, even a tiger from Australia are some of the animals smuggled across continents and through underground tunnels to create what's probably the world's weirdest zoo.
24-year-old Mohammed Awaida is its ringmaster.
“When I started the zoo, I just wanted to work with animals and the first animal I worked with was the tiger. He got jealous one time when I held the female tiger and because he was jealous he bit me…right here on my arm…you can see there is two big teeth marks”.
Gaza is sandwiched between Egypt and Israel. There’s only two ways in and out: through the northern Erez crossing in Israel or via Rafah at the southern end where Gaza meets Egypt.
Under frequent Egyptian or Israeli blockades of Gaza, basic day-to-day supplies are often scarce. The tunnel system is a life-line for most Gazans.
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“The situation we are in is bad. People would rather die. I have friends who are 20-year-old and want to douse themselves in petrol. People are struggling. The situation here now is at its worst. Life is suffocating”, said Mr Awaida.
Although the tunnels are not legal, it’s no secret that they are operating.
Medical supplies come through the tunnels. Arms and weapons are smuggled in. Earlier this, year even KFC was snuck in. So Mr Awaida thought 'Why not animals?'.
“We have Sudanese monkeys. We have an African lama, European gazelles, birds from India, tigers, a crocodile and many more animals coming through. From Egypt we get them into Gaza via the tunnels”.
Mohammed refuses to let the ongoing political and military conflict taking over Gazans' lives completely - instead choosing to build his own domesticated army. He's been smuggling in animals since 2007.
“When I see the situation here… I see the situation of the people and I am depressed. I get up at 5am and see the sunrise. I watch the birds waking up. I am in another world here...it’s so beautiful”.
But violent conflicts cost lives and in Gaza it's not only human loss. Mr Awaida explains his animal victims of war have become the main attraction at Gaza zoo.
“During the war in Gaza in 2009, there were a lot of bombings and shelling. The Israelis would launch poisonous chemicals.
“The immune system of an animal can’t handle these chemicals so they die. So when our animals die we insist to preserve them".
The Gaza zoo is probably the only place in the world you'll see live and dead animals on display side by side.
Mr Awaida took a crash course in taxidermy online.
“I sit here with the animal. I wear long gloves and a mask. My younger brothers help. They scoop the animal's insides out. They fill it with saw dust. I mix the saw dust with the formeldahyde inside the dead animal and then I sew it all back up but the quality of the formeldahyde we get is not original – it’s a homemade version. My taxidermy is not proper but it will do - it’s all in the name of keeping Gaza alive”.
Mr Awaida finds most of the animals online but at great expense.
“We got the lion for $30,000 and getting the tiger costed us over $100,000”, he said.
Although the economy in Gaza is devastated, Mr Awaida refuses to reveal how he pays for the animals.
“Let us talk about the tiger: he came from Australia via a plane and it arrived in Cairo airport…In Cairo some of our people took it. At a bridge between Egypt and Gaza we got caught with the tiger. We paid a bribe to the Egyptian guards to get through the tunnels”.
Of the 1.5 million Gazans 75 per cent are under the age of 25. Mr Awaida says the zoo is for them. He hopes his passion for animals will give younger Gazans some hope that they too can have a future where their lives are not shrouded under the cloud of war.
“We will keep going no matter what. If they kill 100 animals – we will keep bringing more through the tunnels. It doesn’t matter if the animal is alive or dead, we still want to see it. When I am with my animals, I forget about the world out there and I become one of them, especially the birds…
“The only thing that’s keeping me patient in this life is being with these animals,” said Mr Awaida.
