Wounded animals at bay in Kabul's zoo of horror

London Times, Jan 25, 1998

by Stephen Grey Kabul

THE lion has been blinded by a grenade, one of the three bears limps from a bullet wound and the other animals have been woefully neglected since their head keeper was found floating in a pool with his throat cut: welcome to Kabul zoo.

Once a showcase for 92 species and a renowned centre of academic research, the zoo was reduced to ruins by two years of bombardment from rival mujaheddin factions in Afghanistan's relentless civil war. Only 19 animals remain, and their prospects for survival grow bleaker by the day.

Visitors paying the equivalent of 5p for entry pass through a crumbling archway into a courtyard of administrative buildings, partly destroyed by rockets and machinegun fire and occupied by the zoo's staff of three. Last week they huddled round a wood-burning stove, sheltering from temperatures of -19C outside, with two parrots for company.

Off the courtyard stands a cage containing three sorry-looking monkeys. They move frenetically in and out of a small hut at the back of the cage in a pattern zoologists call stereotypic behaviour, denoting a high level of stress.

Bullet marks on the neighbouring cages partly explain the monkeys' anxiety: many of the animals in them were shot for food at the height of the war.

The Nuristani bears that pace their concrete enclosure in a frenzy, heads swinging from side to side, are among the survivors, although one was shot in the leg. The last elephant was struck by rocket shrapnel and charged around its compound for 10 days before succumbing to its wounds.

Marjan the lion is Kabul zoo's most famous inhabitant. After mauling to death a soldier who entered his cage for a dare, he survived a grenade that was thrown at him by his victim's friends. The attack left him completely blind.

He lies huddled against his mate, Tusha, who appears close to death, her body paralysed by weeks of cold. "We were able to provide heating in their cage last year," said Muhammad Sheragha, the zoo director. "It kept them going through the winter. But now we have no power here. We do not know if the lions and other animals will survive at all."

The menagerie is completed by two wolves, two foxes, six rabbits and a wild boar that survived a slaughter of edible animals - including all the zoo's antelope - because Islamic law prohibits the consumption of pork. Their plight has worsened since the murder of Agha Akbar, the 60-year-old head keeper, last summer. He was dragged from his hut and killed by unidentified assailants whose motive Sheragha is unable even to guess.

"Akbar was the hero of this zoo," he said. "When this was the front line and the animals were being wounded or killed each day, Akbar was the only one to stay here. He used to sneak out and bring food for the survivors. He kept the zoo going."

A freshly painted sign beside the entrance announces a rehabilitation project by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The charity has provided £1,300 to rebuild bird cages and repair a children's area.

However, Ashiq Ahmed Khan, WWF's conservation director in neighbouring Pakistan, said no more money could be invested until the animals were properly guarded. "When I saw the zoo it seemed like the entire place was destroyed," he said.

"There was a brown bear there and people were standing around beating and harassing him with sticks and other blunt objects. All the birds were either killed or stolen. Every single cage had bullet marks. People had been killing the animals with their AK47 guns."

Two years ago, when the Islamic fighters of the Taliban took Kabul from the mujaheddin and restored relative peace to the city, it seemed the zoo was over the worst. But staff say they receive no financial support from the authorities.

The zoo is a favourite of Taliban soldiers on leave from the front line, now 20 miles north of Kabul. The keepers, however, are powerless to prevent them pelting the animals with snowballs and stones.