Aberrant: a malnourished lion cub was rescued from a Palestinian village

A disturbing discovery shocked the rescue teams of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority: a lion cub, tied to a tree in the yard of a house in Abu Dis, a Palestinian village east of Jerusalem.

The scene, more fitting for a horror movie than a domestic setting, marks the sixth lion cub found in Palestinian hands so far this year.

The rescue operation was carried out by investigators from the Judea and Samaria district, in coordination with the Ma’ale Adumim Police and experts in illegal wildlife trafficking.

According to Uri Laniel, head of the Captive Wildlife Trade Division, the lion showed no external injuries, but was visibly malnourished. It will undergo tests to determine possible internal damage.

This case is not isolated. Since January, Israeli authorities have rescued at least ten monkeys, as well as several rare parrots, lions, and other protected species that were being held illegally in Palestinian villages and Bedouin areas.

In April, a planned theft at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo ended with the theft of six rare parrots and twenty rainbow lorikeets, which were later found in Hableh, a village under Palestinian Authority control. The estimated value of the birds: more than $330,000.

Traffickers not only break the law: they endanger the lives of wild animals that require specialized care.

Keeping dangerous species such as lions not only poses a direct threat to people, but is also an act of extreme animal cruelty.

Videos on social media have helped identify places where animals were displayed as trophies, a practice that reveals the growing trivialization of wildlife in certain communities.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority warned that the illegal trade in protected wildlife is spreading increasingly in Palestinian civilian environments, becoming an underground industry that thrives in impunity.