In 1994, Amir Khalil began volunteering with Four Paws International’s dog castration projects in
Romania. He was appointed Four Paws’ Director of Project Development and Director of the
Disaster Relief Unit in 1997. Khalil conducts aid missions for animals in conflict zones. He provided aid for animals in Iraq’s
Baghdad Zoo in 2003, in Libya’s
Tripoli Zoo and in
Cairo during the
Arab Spring of 2011. In 2014, he ran four rescue missions in the
Gaza Strip, and removed two lion cubs from the
Rafah Camp in 2015. The following year in the Gaza Strip he closed down the
Al-Bisan Zoo and the
Khan Younis Zoo. In April 2017, he evacuated a bear and a lion, the two last survivors of the
Montazah Al-Morour Zoo in
Mosul,
Iraq. In July 2017, he rescued 13 animals from the abandoned
Magic World Recreational Park near
Aleppo,
Syria. Amir Khalil has established
animal sanctuaries in Bulgaria, Jordan, Myanmar, South Africa and Ukraine. He spearheaded the movement to rescue performing bears in the
Balkans, where he saved 27 bears. In 2001, he founded the
Dancing Bears Park Belitsa, with the support of the
Brigitte Bardot Foundation. In 2006, he established the
Lionsrock Big Cat Sanctuary in
Bethlehem,
South Africa. Together with the
Princess Alia Foundation, he founded the
Al Ma’wa Sanctuary for Nature and Wildlife. In 2018, he founded
Elephants Lake, a 17,000-hectare reserve and rehabilitation centre for former logging elephants in Myanmar’s Bago region. In January 2020, Amir Khalil rescued sick lions at a zoo in
Khartoum together with Four Paws, after worldwide outrage following concerning reports of the animals’ condition. From September to November 2020, Amir Khalil from the animal welfare organisation
Four Paws International with the support of journalist and businessman
Eric Margolis, singer
Cher and Frank Goeritz from the
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) examined and approved
"the world’s loneliest elephant" Kaavan for travel to an elephant sanctuary. == Trivia ==