Kabul Zoo getting lions from China

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2059352,00.html

Afghan Zoo Gets Gifts From China

Wednesday October 2, 2002 8:30 PM

 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The Kabul zoo took delivery Wednesday of a

precious Chinese gift - two lions to replace Marjan, the one-eyed, defanged

king of beasts who died earlier this year after surviving more than two

decades of violence in the Afghan capital.

 

The new lions, part of a menagerie that also included two deer, two bears,

two pigs and a wolf, were given by Beijing's Badaling Safari world, trucked

overland to Xinjiang province in western China and flown to Kabul in a giant

Russian-made cargo jet.

 

China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Sun Yuxi, said the donation was ``a

gesture of peace'' and that Chinese experts would teach Afghan zookeepers

how to care for the newly arrived creatures.

 

``We hope this will give some pleasure for the people of Afghanistan,

especially the children,'' Sun said.

 

The zoo sits on a patch of land near an often-dry river bed in a section of

Kabul that was devastated during the 1992-1996 civil war. The new arrivals

join zoo survivors who lived through miserable years only to find themselves

today in a sprawling complex of collapsed and bullet-spattered buildings and

broken - mostly empty and cobweb-covered - cages.

 

``We used to come when I was a boy and you could spend all day here. All the

cages were full,'' said 18-year-old Pervez, who like many Afghans uses one

name. ``Now there's nothing. It's boring. We're tired of looking at these

same rabbits and monkeys.''

 

A woman lifted her blue burqa to take a closer look at two monkeys, one

nervously fingering a shredded cigarette package in its disheveled cage.

Peanut shells littered the floor.

 

Nearby, a dozen black and white rabbits sat Sphinx-like in a dusty

enclosure. There were two ragged vultures, an owl with a sore under its left

eye and a small black bear - a festering wound on its nose and surround by a

fetid moat.

 

``We need new animals desperately,'' said Kabul Zoo director Sher Agha Omar.

The Chinese zoo ``promised us some birds too, maybe they'll be on the next

flight.''

 

At its prewar best, the zoo housed a big variety of exotic creatures and had

an aquarium packed with fish. But during the decade of Soviet occupation and

the subsequent civil war, many animals died or starved to death.

 

The lone elephant was killed by shrapnel from a rocket.

 

The zoo's most famous inhabitant, though, was Marjan. He died earlier this

year - estimated age 25 - after gaining world renown through press reports

about the sad last days of his life.

 

Marjan lost one eye in 1994 when he mauled a fighter from the civil war. The

man's brother took revenge the next day, hurling a grenade into Marjan's

cage. The beast lost most of his teeth - as well as one eye - in the blast.

 

Marjan lies in an unmarked grave near a green swamp. Zoo workers said his

grave, covered with a small mound of broken concrete, would be reconstructed

with a sign to pay tribute.

 

Press reports, after journalists flooded Kabul with the ouster of the

hardline Taliban regime, produced international donations of more than a

half-million dollars, but Omar said little had gotten through to the zoo. He

said officials have seen nothing of a highly publicized gift from a group of

American school children that was known to have reached the country.

 

Late Wednesday, the two lions - 165-pound male, Zhuang Zhuang and 143-pound

female, Kelly - were lifted in green metal cages by a crane and lowered into

a grassy pen surrounded by rocky walls.

 

Kelly emerged immediately to take a spot in the corner, while Zhuang Zhuang,

whose name means ``strong boy'' in Mandarin, took 10 minutes come out. He

sat down near a log.

 

Some international organizations and zoos overseas have said the

bomb-blasted zoo is not ready to take in new occupants and care for them

properly.

 

But Omar said the zoo has been ready for months. The London-based World

Society for the Protection of Animals donated some money for electricity and

a water pump and said it would help ensure the animals were fed, he said.

 

``What we really need is money for our staff. They haven't been paid in

months,'' Omar said.