Lakhish Park, Urban park in Ashdod, Israel.
Lakhish Park is an urban park in Ashdod that extends along the Lakhish River all the way to where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. The area includes walking paths throughout, open green spaces, and recreational facilities for various activities.
The park opened in 1996, after the Lakhish River flooded Ashdod's northern neighbourhoods in 1992. The Jewish National Fund then deepened and cleaned the channel, diverted the sewage into drainage systems, built two marinas and planted the banks. It was created with the Jewish National Fund, the Israel Electric Corporation, the government tourism company, the Environment Ministry, the Ashdod refinery and Makhteshim Agan.
The park's name is an acronym of "Pla – Park Lakhish Ashdod". Its western section holds a small zoo with hoofed animals and a petting corner, and a birdwatching centre opened there in 2008. The eastern section keeps its natural riverbank vegetation, including white acacia, eucalyptus, reed and fig.
The park stretches about three kilometres along the southern bank of the Lakhish River, never wider than 200 metres, so it is walked end to end rather than crossed. Its eastern part keeps unsurfaced paths through river vegetation, while the western part, apart from the last 500 metres before the river mouth, has lawns, seating corners and the animal enclosures. A birdwatching centre opened on the grounds in 2008.
The park's zoo holds mainly hoofed animals, and in April 2021 vandals broke its fence, letting three antelopes escape; two were caught at once and the third was found in a water channel near Yavne.
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