Marjan, the one-eyed Afghan lion, roars his last
Date: 28-Jan-02
Country: AFGHANISTAN
Author: David Fox
Lame and half-blind, Marjan, had become a symbol for Afghanistan's destruction.
"He had not eaten for a few days, and this morning I discovered him dead in his cage," said zookeeper Sheraq Omar, who has cared for Marjan for the last eight years.
"He was very old, so he had to go sometime," he told Reuters.
A gift from Germany 38 years ago, Marjan the lion was the veteran of occupations, coups and wars - and more recently six weeks of U.S. bombing raids that dislodged the Taliban.
Half-blind, lame and almost toothless, the beast was subjected to daily taunts and teasing from almost every visitor to the run-down zoo.
Marjan was the subject of an international rescue mission by the international rights organisation World Society for the Protection of Animals, which last month sent a team to Kabul to look after the lion and the few remaining occupants of the zoo.
They wanted to transfer the animals to other facilities in India and Pakistan, but Kabul municipality - determined to reconstruct the battered zoo - refused.
Keeper Omar said he hoped Marjan would be replaced, preferably by a breeding pair.
A Taliban fighter once climbed into Marjan's enclosure to prove his bravery, only to be killed and devoured by the then much more sprightly lion.
The fighter's brother returned the next day and lobbed a grenade at Marjan in revenge, blinding him and causing his lameness.
Aside from Marjan, which means coral in both Afghanistan's Dari and Pashto languages, two wolves, several monkeys and a bloody-nosed black bear are the main attractions of the zoo.
The zoo also has cages containing vultures, eagles and other birds of prey - most brought to the zoo after they had broken a wing and were 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 said they would pay their salaries and also provide better animal husbandry training.
