Dutch man helps save animals from destroyed Aleppo zoo

Dutch animal caretaker Juno van Zon is currently in Karacabey, Turkey to help care for nine lions, tigers, bears and hyenas recently rescued from the destroyed Magic World zoo in Aleppo, Syria. The animals' rescue was planned by international aid organization Four Paws.

The animals include three lions, two tigers, two Asian bears and two hyenas, according to AD. They are extremely thin and traumatized. Caretakers are rehabilitating them in Karacabey while more permanent places of residence are looked for. Should the permits come through, the two tigers may end up in Felida in Nijeberkoop, Friesland.

The animals' are in a pretty bad shape. "We do not know exactly what happened to them. If you see pictures of the zoo they stayed in, you see that there was fighting there. War has been going on for six years, and there was fierce fighting in Aleppo. It was six terrible years for them", Van Zon said to the Volkskrant. "When there's war, animals are often not taken into account. You can see that they suffered heavily. They are very thin, some animals have wounds."