Kabul zookeeper bemused by foreign food donations
Date: 01-Mar-02
Country: AFGHANISTAN
Author: Rosalind Russell
Shocked by reports of the zoo's sick, underfed and war-traumatised inhabitants, animal lovers around the world have flooded animal welfare charities with funds to buy food and medicines.
The supplies, labelled in English, have already arrived, but the boxes remain unopened as the zoo's staff try and work out which animals should get what.
Agha, smoking a cigarette by a wood-burning stove in his office, stares blankly at a label reading "Primate Biscuit", accompanied by a list of ingredients and recommended portions.
"That's for the monkeys, isn't it?" he said. "I'm not sure. The problem is that we haven't been given instructions that we understand. We've been in touch with the livestock department in the government but we haven't received a reply."
Bottles of medicines languish in the bottom drawer of Agha's rusting filing cabinet and special food supplements for herbivores and exotic canines lie untouched.
The zoo's staff continue to buy meat, carrots, rice, raisins, nuts and grass at the local market. The difference now is that the zoo can afford to pay its bills.
Half destroyed in fighting between rival mujahideen factions in the early 1990s, the 100-acre (40 hectare) zoo on the banks of Kabul River was left to neglect and ruin by the hardline Taliban.
MONEY AT LAST
The zoo's staff went unpaid for months and were reduced to begging for food for the animals from local stall holders.
"For a month and a half we've been getting money from an English charity to buy food," said Agha. "It's made such a difference to us. The health of the animals has improved so much since they've been getting enough to eat."
But help came too late to save the zoo's most precious resident, Marjan the lion.
A gift from Germany 38 years ago, Marjan endured the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, coups, civil war and most recently U.S. bombing raids that helped oust the Taliban. A victim of a grenade attack, he was half-blind, lame and almost toothless when he finally succumbed to old age last month.
Agha has dreams of replacing not only Marjan, but also replenishing the zoo with the dozens of species that lived there when Kabul zoo was one of the finest in South Asia.
"There were 65 species here, we had an elephant, zebras and snakes," he said. "We hope to get them all back and rebuild everything, even our aquarium."
The zookeeper has been told that a $500,000 grant from the London-based World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), will be awarded next month to rebuild the zoo and buy new animals.
Meanwhile, offers of replacement lions are pouring in. A Pakistani family says it wants to donate their three-and-a-half year-old lioness Leila and her partner to the zoo, while a Chinese wildlife park and a Canadian roadside zoo have also offered young lions.
"This zoo used to be special," said Agha. "But as Afghans we lost the sense of what was important. Our soldiers ate the animals. A good zoo will show we are a civilised nation again."