War-Scarred Lions Find New Home

A trio of scrawny lions was brought into Israel from Gaza yesterday en route to a better life at a wildlife sanctuary in Jordan after their zoo was damaged in the recent Israel-Hamas war. The three, a pair of males and a pregnant female, were sedated at Al-Bisan zoo in Beit Lahiya before the big cats were placed in metal cages and loaded onto a truck that transferred them through the Erez border crossing into Israel. A spokesman from the Four Paws International welfare group says the zoo's animals were in urgent need of care after the 50-day war. He says the zoo was badly damaged and more than 80 animals died as a result of the fighting. (More Gaza stories.)