
The last tiger of Palestine - rescued from a crumbling zoo in August - has taken his first joyous leaps to a new life at an enclosure 1,000 times the size of his hell-hole cage.

Laziz will now live out his days on the veldt of South Africa with the sun on his back and the sights and sounds of 18 other freed tigers in enclosures all around him.

The Daily Mail was granted exclusive access to Laziz when he took his great walk to freedom in the land of Nelson Mandela this week.

Paws used to filthy sand combined with a meagre diet of the wrong kind of food left Laziz lethargic and nervous: an apex predator uncertain of his own strengths and capabilities, seeming almost frightened of his own shadow cast in the afternoon glare.

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Laziz will now live out his days on the veldt of South Africa with the sun on his back and the sights and sounds of 18 other freed tigers in enclosures all around him

The last tiger of Palestine - rescued from a crumbling zoo in August - has taken his first joyous leaps to a new life at an enclosure 1,000 times the size of his hell-hole cage

Laziz remained in a squalid cage at the zoo in the Gaza Strip ever since he was brought through a smuggling tunnel from Egypt as a cub

Aged around nine now - no-one is quite certain - he spent the last two years of his life at the zoo near Gaza City living amid the bleached bones of the other animal inmates who had gradually died off

But within hours of arriving at the Lion's Rock Big Cat Sanctuary 250 miles from Johannesburg, Laziz was delighting the rangers and vets who will care for him until he dies.

When the hatch went up on his hectare-sized enclosure into an adjacent feeding area, Laziz jumped as if for joy to get to the beef strewn around for him to enjoy.

Portions of his meal were placed on to the roof of a shelter when he can sleep during the midday heat after dining. Laziz had never jumped before: there was never enough room in his squalid cage at the zoo in the Gaza Strip where he had lived ever since he was brought through a smuggling tunnel from Egypt as a cub.

But he proved he was up to the task as all 300lbs of rippling feline flesh was suddenly supported on his back legs as he stretched to get at the nourishment denied him for so long.

Aged around nine now - no-one is quite certain - he spent the last two years of his life at the zoo near Gaza City living amid the bleached bones of the other animal inmates who had gradually died off.

In August in an operation dubbed Operation Noah's Ark the Mail witnessed the rescue of Laziz and 13 other creatures by the international animal welfare charity Four Paws.

He sat in his cage day after day, teased by the children who came up close to his bars to throw nuts and stones at him. At night there was no cooling dip in a water bath - something that all tigers enjoy

Laziz was fed mostly on chicken carcasses and rotten fruit: foodstuffs which gave him few of the nutrients he needs to thrive

In August in an operation dubbed Operation Noah's Ark the Mail witnessed the rescue of Laziz and 13 other creatures by the international animal welfare charity Four Paws

They were the only survivors of a population that once numbered 65. Israel's blockade of Gaza, bombings and food shortages combined with a basic lack of animal husbandry by the zoo owner created a perfect storm of misery for him and all the other animals there.

Laziz was fed mostly on chicken carcasses and rotten fruit: foodstuffs which gave him few of the nutrients he needs to thrive.

He sat in his cage day after day, teased by the children who came up close to his bars to throw nuts and stones at him. At night there was no cooling dip in a water bath - something that all tigers enjoy.

He could not even view the stars in the clear sky overhead. Every day was the same monotonous circle of misery for him and the other animals.

In 2007 around 90 percent of the animals were smuggled into the hermetically sealed territory through the tunnels dug by Hamas fighters used to bring in weapons, food, fuel and medicines.

They were brought in on the whim of a man who thought Palestinians would enjoy a distraction from their grim everyday lives through marvelling at a menagerie of wild things.

Within hours of arriving at the Lion's Rock Big Cat Sanctuary 250 miles from Johannesburg, Laziz was delighting the rangers and vets who will care for him until he died

The Daily Mail was granted exclusive access to Laziz when he took his great walk to freedom in the land of Nelson Mandela this week

Paws used to filthy sand combined with a meagre diet of the wrong kind of food left Laziz lethargic and nervous: an apex predator uncertain of his own strengths, seeming almost frightened of his own shadow cast in the afternoon glare

It is known that two baby elephants died in the troglodyte causeways linking Gaza to Egypt. But the rest of the exotic beasts made it through - only to be plunged into endless torment.

They were destined for the cages and compounds of the Khan Younis Zoo - one of several in the territory. Local entrepreneur Mohammed Awaida opened South Forest Park in 2007 and invested hundreds of thousands of pounds into it.

Gaza residents were eager to pay money to see a crocodile, lions, ostriches, snakes, monkeys, turtles, deer, a llama, a lion and two tigers among the animals on display.

But Gaza is not Windsor or Longleat. Its repeated conflicts with Israel not only caused numerous civilian deaths but those of God's lesser creatures.

A number died in fighting in 2008, more in 2014 when Israel launched mammoth retaliatory raids on Gaza in a bid to stop DIY rocket attacks on to its territory by Hamas militants pledged to its destruction.

'It was after the 2014 fighting that the Khan Younis Zoo came on our radar,' said Dr. Amir Khalil, director of the mission launched by the Four Paws charity that plucked the survivors to safety.

Dr Amir Khalil inspects one of the mummifed animals that sat next to Laziz's cage during his time in the Gaza zoo

Laziz was able to jump around for the first time as all 300lbs of rippling feline flesh was suddenly supported on his back legs as he stretched to get at the nourishment denied him for so long

'It was clear that this was a failing place. Food, medicine, basic care for the animals - everything was in short supply and they were paying for it with their lives.

'The concept of a zoo came to the owner because he had probably seen a successful one elsewhere in the territory and decided to copy it. He might just have easily seen a mobile phone shop and copied that instead.

'After 2014 the health of these animals was deteriorating rapidly. Four Paws took the decision to rescue them. It has been an incredibly difficult, complex and delicate operation, not least because of the situation Gaza finds itself.'

Most of the animals - deer, porcupines, a pelican, tortoises among them - went to a wildlife sanctuary in neighbouring Jordan.

But for Laziz, there was one more journey to take after the truck ride from Gaza to Israel.

'He was sedated for the flight to Johannesburg, crated up and flown out hours after he was rescued,' said Four Paws director Ioana Dungler, 36, who was at the complex built on the site of a former ranch where big cats were once bred for the hunting rifles of rich men.

Most of the animals - deer, porcupines, a pelican, tortoises among them - that we rescued went to a wildlife sanctuary in neighbouring Jordan. But for Laziz, there was one more journey to take after the truck ride from Gaza to Israel

When the hatch went up on his hectare-sized enclosure into an adjacent feeding area, Laziz jumped as if for joy to get to the beef strewn around for him to enjoy

'From the first moment of his arrival here we could see that he was a little bit special. We have many tigers here - rescued from terrible zoos or circuses in Europe - and we get to know them all.

'Laziz is fiercely intelligent. He was a little bit baffled at first, trading a home of 10 square metres or so for one that is 1,000 times greater in size, but all his instincts came back to him in a flash.

'He learned to jump, he craned his head to hear the roar of the other tigers. He can rake his claws as nature intended on tree trunks. Most of all he is getting the food and care he needs.'

The kilos of beef he downs each week is dusted with a special nutritional powder to help build back muscle-mass that atrophied during his long years of incarceration.

With the right care he can be expected to live as much as two more decades in the sanctuary which generates cash by offering accommodation and guided visits for tourists to view the tigers, lions, antelopes and ostriches which inhabit the park.

Ioana went on; 'Laziz was introduced to another tiger for the first time this week, albeit that they were separated by a fence. He was very curious to see another like him for the first time.

'We will have to see in the future if he can actually be introduced to another one close up because tigers are very hard to socialise and are usually solitary creatures.