It isn't particularly unusual for people to purchase exotic pets within the region but this normally happens within wealthy Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Recently however, a Palestinian man living in Gaza with his family adopted a pair of two-and-half month old lion cubs from a local zoo.
Following Israeli airstrikes that caused damage to its facilities, the zoo could apparently no longer take care of the two cubs and Saed Eldin al-Jamal, a 54-year-old Palestinian Authority employee, stepped in to adopt them. He lives with his family in the refugee camp of Rafah.
For the time being, the young cubs roam the house and play freely with Jamal's children as well as other children in the neighborhood. Still, he admits that in time they will have to be more cautious.
"When they are four months old, they will start to be dangerous; by the age of 5 or 6 months they will be very dangerous. In one month, they will start being kept in a cage for our own safety," he said according to The Telegraph .
The family has also expressed interest in breeding the cubs and creating a petting zoo in the future.
Props to Jamal for rescuing the cubs from the damaged zoo, but let's hope they don't end up in a petting zoo. While we admit it's too adorable seeing the little cubs playing with the family - hopefully an animal sanctuary will step in and rescue them soon.