In 1947 the zoo, which by now had 122 animals, relocated to a plot of land on Mount Scopus provided by Hebrew University. It remained there from 1947 to 1950. Its occupancy coincided with the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the siege of Jerusalem, when food for the city's population was at a premium. Zookeepers resorted to hunting down stray dogs near garbage dumps in order to feed the carnivorous animals. Many of the carnivores died anyway, and other, non-dangerous species had to be released.