Guest guest Posted April 7, 2002 Report Share Posted April 7, 2002 http://www.anc.org/wildlife/wildlife_article.cfm?identifier=2002_0405_kabul by Ursula Cunningham Badaling Wildlife Park near Beijing, China will soon donate two 3-year-old lions to the zoo in Kabul, Afghanistan. The pair - a male named Zhuangzhuang and a female named Kai Ni - are intended to be a gesture of goodwill. Both of the lions are hand-raised, and have no fear of humans. Marjan, the famous lion the Kabul Zoo kept for 23 years, died in January of old age. Years of civil war and neglect of the zoo by the Taliban during its rule left Marjan poorly cared for throughout much of his life. In addition, one of Marjan's eyes was destroyed when an Afghan guerilla threw a hand grenade into the lion's cage. Since the war in Afghanistan first brought international attention to the plight of the Kabul Zoo last fall, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised for its refurbishment. " I hope the cubs will bring laughter and hope to the Afghan people with their youth and vigor, " Badaling Wildlife Park Director Yi Feng told a British Broadcasting Corporation reporter. The two lions' current keepers hope the lions will breed in their new home as well. " It is still too early for love to work its magic, but (we) hope for results when the cubs are older, " said Yi. © 2002 Animal News Center, Inc. Please be sure to provide proper credit to Animal News Center when publishing the article. Once you have published it, please either send the URL at which the piece may found to webmaster or mail a copy of the article to Animal News Center, Suite 6E, 153 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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