KABUL ZOO NEWS

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0811/p07s01-wosc.html?World > Asia: South &

Central

from the August 11, 2005 edition

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

 

IT'S A ZOO: Aziz Gul Saqib, director of the war-damaged Kabul Zoo, says his

staff is working hard to improve conditions and teach people to respect animals.

SCOTT BALDAUF

 

Worst behaved at the Kabul Zoo - the humans

 

China is halting further animal donations to the zoo after a bear and a deer

died.

 

By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

 

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN ?Inside a cage, a pair of mangy wolves rest on a bed of

straw. Outside the cage, an Afghan amputee tries to stir up the action a bit,

tossing stones at the animals. A crowd of Afghans gathers, and the amputee tries

poking his crutch through the chain-link fence to see if one of the animals

takes a bite.

A wolf sniffs the crutch and walks back to a cool spot in the straw. The crowd

moves off to the next cage.

 

Afghanistan is a wounded country, after two decades of war, so it shouldn't come

as any great surprise that the Kabul Zoo is wounded too. In fact, the only

surprise should be that Kabul has a zoo at all.

 

Aziz Gul Saqib, the zoo director, walks around the zoo that he has managed for

three months and shakes his head.

 

" The big problem with our country is that no one knows what to do with animals.

The war has damaged their minds, " he says, passing by an open pen for macaques,

surrounded by a moat of filthy water filled with trash. " They stand here and

throw stones, shoes, and even their hats at the animals. They fight with the

animals, they don't come to just see the animals. "

 

Generally speaking, the Kabul Zoo manages to struggle along quietly, attracting

hundreds of visitors on weekdays and up to 5,000 on an average weekend. It's one

of the few sources of entertainment, and a minor miracle in a country with many

problems - an ongoing insurgency, opium trafficking, corruption, high infant

mortality, lack of clean drinking water, just to mention a few.

 

But the Kabul Zoo came into the headlines recently when one of the zoo's primary

donor of animals - the Chinese government - recently announced concerns about

the safety of the animals it has already donated to Afghanistan. In the past

year, one male bear and one deer have died, apparently from diseases and

improper nutrition. Chinese authorities say they will not donate any more

animals to Kabul until conditions improve.

 

Most of the zoo's 100 or so animals are native to Afghanistan. Foreign animal

donations add some welcome diversity.

 

The death of the male bear has been a particular problem, says Dr. Saqib.

Recently, the departed male's mate, Cece, went on a rampage, breaking out of her

cage and killing a pig in a nearby open pen. Somehow zookeepers managed to coax

her back in her pen without further incident. This was fortunate: The zoo has no

tranquilizer guns to control larger animals.

 

Indeed, the zoo grounds, which span approximately two city blocks, don't even

have a proper perimeter to keep out wandering herds of sheep and goats.

 

Saqib ticks off his list of things to do. He wants to:

 

?Refurbish the snake house and add large aquariums full of tropical fish.

 

?Reconstruct the elephant pen and replace the elephant that was killed by

mujahideen.

 

?Rebuild the perimeter wall.

 

?And get another male bear for Cece before she breaks out again.

 

But the zoo has few funds for such projects. The admission fee is little more

than a dime. Donations help. Last year, the North Carolina Zoo raised $500,000.

 

Saqib walks up to a low wall and peers down at an open pen where two Afghan

bears are lounging in the sun. One big honey-colored bear is chewing on a piece

of cardboard tossed into the pen by a visitor.

 

" Please see the water in the moat, " Saqib says. " We change this water every two

days, but people throw trash into the pen. "

 

Saqib and other zookeepers have tried putting up signs to discourage bad

behavior by zoo visitors, largely to no avail. One reads: " Dear citizens: The

animals are creatures of God. While watching them, please avoid annoying or

bothering them. "

 

Just a few feet away, a crowd has gathered as an Afghan dangles a bag of peanuts

in front of the waiting paw of a very chubby macaque. The monkey reaches, and

the man pulls the bag back, but not fast enough. The monkey saunters away with

his peanuts. Another monkey in the cage chews on a cigarette stub.

 

Farther on, a man has gathered his family around a cage of owls. To show that

the birds are actually alive, he takes off his hat and thrashes it in the face

of a nearby owl. The bird blinks and looks away.

 

" We have many problems, " Saqib says, " but I'm a young person. I will try my best

to make this place like the zoos of the world. "