Animal experts in mercy mission to Afghan zoo
Date: 14-Jan-02
Country: AFGHANISTAN
Author: David Fox
The world's zoo community had raised thousands of dollars to improve Kabul Zoo and also provide veterinarian services for Afghan livestock, said John Walsh, International Projects Director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
"People around the world want us to help these animals," Walsh said yesterday as he toured the rundown Kabul Zoo.
Walsh said he was accustomed to criticism that some parts of the international community possibly care more for the rights of animals than Afghans suffering under years of drought and conflict.
"The zoo is here. They (the authorities) are not going to get rid of the animals, so we may as well try to help them."
The symbol of the decrepit facility is Marjan the lion, a gift from Germany 38 years ago and the veteran of coups, wars and, more recently, six weeks of U.S. bombing raids that dislodged the Taliban.
Lame, almost toothless and blinded in one eye by a Taliban who hurled a grenade at him after Marjan ate his brother when he ventured into his pen, the lion is subjected to taunts and teasing from almost every visitor.
"They are only animals, they cannot feel anything," said one man as he threw stones at a cage containing two mangy Himalayan baboons.
ONLY 19 SPECIES REMAIN
There are now just 19 different species in the zoo, down from 40 a decade ago.
Aside from Marjan, two wolves, several monkeys and a bloody-nosed black bear are the main attractions.
Othe cages contain vultures, eagles and other birds of prey - most brought to the zoo after they had broken a wing and had been unable to fly again.
The zoo's 11 staff have gone unpaid for months, reduced to begging for food for the animals from local market stalls, but the WSPCA will now pay their salaries and provide better animal husbandry training.
A team of veterinarians is also on its way to set up clinics for livestock and domestic animals.
"In times of war or conflict, animals are often the last things on people's minds," said Walsh. "They have also been traumatised."
Walsh said the WSPCA would rather see the zoo closed and its animals transferred to better facilities in India and Pakistan, but authorities wanted to try to refurbish it.
"If that is the case, then we should try to help them. There are all kinds of non-governmental organisations here from the Red Cross to other charities, but there is only one organisation that provides this service to animals and that is the WSPCA," he said.