-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2001/1121/wor8.htm
}}}>Begin
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
Surviving the lion's
share of abuse
By Chris Stephen
Afghanistan, a guidebook by Nancy Hatch Dupree, published in
1977, is an extraordinary volume. It is still on sale, and still the
best guidebook. But it now reads like a guide to a country that no
longer exists.
Writing about Kabul Zoo she says: "A lion, a gift of Germany, has
a regal run beside the Kabul river; the kangaroos from Australia
have settled in nicely; the raccoons from the United States are
raising a family. A three-year-old elephant was presented by the
government of India.
The elephant died in a rocket attack. Soldiers ate the deer. The
kangaroos and raccoon are long gone, either they died, escaped or
where killed.
But the lion is still here. He has survived the US bombing raids,
and stoning by the Taliban who didn't approve of lions.
His face is lopsided, he can barely walk and is almost totally blind. His blindness is
a result of a grenade attack by an angry Afghan. The man was angry with good reason.
The German lion ate his brother after he had clim
bed into the lion's compound to tease him.
"There are crazy people everywhere," sighs Sheer Agha, the zoo's director. Two years
ago another man tried the same trick - and suffered the same fate, but this time,
there was no revenge.
Today there are 19 species who live among the ruins. They include several monkeys, two
porcupines, two wolves, some eagles, a wild cat, 40 rabbits, a bear and a deer.
In the course of Afghanistan's recent wars, Mujahedeen soldiers ate the deer and the
rabbits, says Mr Agha, "because the guard could not stop them." Asked if they also ate
the elephant after it was killed, he laughs and s
ays, "no, that is not permitted by our religion". Surprisingly Mr Agha does not
believe that the months of rocketing were the worst time the zoo ever faced. "It was
the Taliban period," he says.
"They were always bothering people and they were uneducated and threw stones at the
animals. Once a Taliban commander came here and asked who was responsible. I said, 'I
am' and then he asked me: 'is there one sentence in
the Holy Koran which says we should have a zoo?' I said that there was not, so then
he said: 'please take all the animals out.' I went to the mayor, who was a little
better, and he gave me a paper which I showed whenever
we had any other problems."
Says Mr Agha: "The Taliban were not at all sympathetic, they did not like scientists,
only Mullahs." After the Taliban fled Kabul last week there was no money for food for
the animals so Mr Agha was reduced to begging the
market traders for credit.
Now, however, he says that the new government has kept its promise and sent him money.
Still the staff have not been paid for three months and very soon their numbers are
going to grow. Women who worked at the zoo will so
on be returning. Under the Taliban women were banned from working.
"They are very happy," says Mr Agha who is also hopeful somehow he will find money to
rebuild his zoo.
Nancy Hatch Dupree wrote that every evening at 5.30 the elephant
would play a game of soccer with his keeper. She says that "two
young chimpanzees, Bobby and Sue, are amongst the most
popular residents." In one cage a bear has a bloody unhealed
wound on its nose, the result, says Mr Agha, of being beaten by a
Taliban seven months ago.
Mr Agha says: "Please tell the world about our plight so people
can come and help us."
© 2001 ireland.com
End<{{{
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