Kabul Zoo awaits more animals; Americans say it's too early

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Saturday, July 20, 2002 2:50PM EDT

 

Kabul Zoo awaits more animals; Americans say it's too early

 

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer

 

KABUL, Afghanistan AP) - Mangy monkeys tremble as young Afghans rattle their

cages with sticks. Eagles bake in the summer heat as they languish in small,

smelly pens. A bear sits listlessly, an open sore on its nose left

untreated.

 

China is preparing to send more animals to Kabul's dilapidated zoo, but some

experts say zoo conditions need to be improved first before subjecting the

newcomers to such hardships.

 

Jane Ballentine, a spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium

Association, which has coordinated an international relief effort to restore

the Kabul zoo after years of war and neglect, says the time is not ripe for

the Chinese gift.

 

" It's way too early for that, " she said from Silver Spring, Maryland. " They

can barely shelter the animals they have left, let alone feed them. "

 

The Chinese offer is generous, she said, but there is no place to put the

animals. " It's bombed out. The funds were raised with the expectation that

they would go to rebuilding the zoo before the care and administration of

new animals started. "

 

But the chief of the zoo, anxious to restore one of the few places in the

Afghan capital designed for amusement, said Saturday that there were enough

facilities to handle more animals.

 

" A Chinese delegation, including their ambassador (to Kabul), recently

visited the zoo and they saw that everything here is according to

international standards, " said Omar Shir. " The Chinese promised to ship the

animals soon. "

 

The plight of one of the zoo's inhabitants - Marjan, an aging, one-eyed

lion - prompted an outpouring of donations from abroad after the Taliban

fell. When Marjan died in February, the China Wildlife Conservation

Association and the Beijing Badaling Safari World said they wanted to donate

a replacement and other animals.

 

On a patch of land near a dried-up river in a section of the city that was

devastated during the 1992-1996 civil war, the Kabul Zoo now gets about 100

visitors a day. They wander along the cracked cement walkway that meanders

through the sad collection of cages, most of them empty.

 

Life is tough for the remaining animals in summer heat as food is scarce,

their cages are small and dirty. And, young Afghans have a nasty habit of

irritating the beasts.

 

Monkeys are targeted with stones or their cages are rattled with sticks,

sending them in wild chases in crumpled space, triggering painful cries.

Huge eagles are often beaten by visitors jumping over protected fence in

front of their cage.

 

Marjan's compound with dried-out grass and dust littered with gray rocks is

awaiting new lions. Not far away stands his grave, a special tribute to " the

hero lion, " as he is known in Afghanistan.

 

" The situation is not ideal for the animals, but it's much better than

before, " admits Shir.

 

He proudly displays a bundle of letters and drawings by American children

received after Marjan became a symbol in the international media for the

suffering of Afghan people. He also has photocopies of checks - ranging from

dlrs 25 to 745 - from donors, mostly children, in the United States.

 

" Yes, all this money was sent, but we never received it, " said Shir, blaming

Afghanistan's nonexistent banking system. " And we had no way of checking

with donors because our telephones didn't work. Who knows who actually

collected that money? "

 

Big U.S. donors have contributed more than dlrs 530,000 with the

understanding the money would be used to rehabilitate and maintain current

exhibits. That raises the possibility that American and international donors

will foot the bill for China's gift: two lions, a wolf, five white chickens,

bears, deer, blue peacocks and wild pigs.

 

Simply turning down the Chinese groups' offer might not be easy either, said

David Jones, the director of the North Carolina Zoo.

 

Though neither the American nor Chinese government is involved in donating

the animals or repairing the zoo, if American or European organizations

encourage Afghan officials to decline the offer, it could be perceived as a

slight.

 

" We have to be very careful we don't appear to be simply telling everybody

to get out of the way because the great United States is solving the

problem, " Jones said. " It has to be argued on rational, practical grounds. "

 

The zoo must initially focus on repairing the war damage, a process that

could take years, Jones said. " It's still a bomb site, basically. "