INTERNATIONAL: An animal shelter in the Gaza Strip is using the wheels of toy cars and kids bicycles to build mobility devices for disabled cats and dogs, helping them walk, run and play again despite a lack of access to specialised prosthetics. Workers at the Palestinian enclave's Sulala Animal Rescue society are working to fit some 32 cats and dogs with the makeshift wheelchairs or with artificial limbs made from recycled wood and metal.

Animal caretaker Said Al-Aer says, "There were many cases after the war that were brought to our shelter, either paralysed or amputated. We also lost some pets during the war. We want it to be a center for artificial limbs for animals in Gaza, including all the things we do here in the center for the animals to have a good life."

One of the dogs, Lucy, whose hind legs were paralysed in a car accident, was given a wheelchair built using the rainbow-coloured rubber wheels of a discarded childrens' bike. With the assistance of volunteers, Lucy slips her upper body through a harness connecting a metal frame to the wheels. Her back legs sit comfortably above the back of the frame. And off she goes.

Ismail created a similar apparatus for cats using the small wheels of a toy race car. The animal shelter, in Gaza City, has received donations from charities in Australia and Britain. There are no specialised medical centres for animals in Gaza, which is run by the militant group Hamas and is held under an Israeli-led blockade.

Veterinarian Bashar Shehada says, "After the war, we received many cases of amputated and paralysed pets, but unfortunately we couldn't help because there is no center for making artificial limbs for cats and dogs in Gaza."

While it does have two prosthesis centres, they are busy providing artificial limbs to some 1,600 amputees in the Strip, including many who were shot during border clashes with Israeli troops. But Shehada has added that centres do not offer services to animals, making the shelter's initiative all the more important.