When I first started this web site, it was shortly after the Iraq invasion and I became very concerned about the animals in the zoos in Baghdad, who were starving and being killed and killing and living under terrible conditions. I am attaching an article that I searched out because I had not heard anything for quite a while. It is information from March, but does indicate that things are much better and are improving. From the earlier articles, I really gathered that the Iraquies were and probably are very proud of their zoos.

Here is the most recent information that I could find. It is from the North Carolina Zoo.

Update on Assistance to Baghdad and Kabul Zoos-
The Last Few Months

Baghdad

The situation appears to be stable with most animals now housed satisfactorily, if not optimally. Issues still remain around the need to sterilize (prevent breeding) amongst the larger carnivores, the rehousing of nine lions at Uday Hussein’s old palace and one or two clinical cases, notably an aged blind brown bear. The great advantage that Baghdad has over Kabul is competent leadership with keen and fairly knowledgeable Iraqis heading the operation ably assisted by Brendan Jones from South Africa and with considerable logistic help continuing from the coalition forces. We recently facilitated the visit of the three most senior Iraqi staff including the Director and Deputy Director with Brendan Jones to the UK to look at designs for large cat and bear enclosures, constructed at relatively low cost and to give them an extended network of people to whom they can turn to for advice, particularly on this type of construction. The trip also enabled them to talk to a wide variety of animal staff at Whipsnade, Woburn, Marwell and London Zoos. This trip already appears to be having a beneficial effect on the discussions relating to the rebuilding of exhibits in the Baghdad Zoo. The remaining AZA-linked funds being held by the N.C. Zoo Society will be used largely for the purchase of construction materials and items for enclosure rebuilding that have not been provided through the coalition. Captain William Sumner, who has been in charge of the Zoo site, along with other antiquity sites in Baghdad, will be leaving Iraq shortly. He has played a major role in assisting with the Zoo, particularly in its difficult times during the first few months after U.S. troops took over. We are looking for opportunities for the Iraqi Zoo staff to network more effectively with the better Zoos in the Arabian Gulf region and Middle East generally. There is a rather loosely organized Middle Eastern Zoos Association, but attempts are being made to strengthen that at the moment and the Baghdad staff should try to play a role in that. Like all the Zoos in the region, these sites are very popular with the public and the big challenge for Baghdad Zoo in the coming years, as outside help withdraws, is to see whether they are able to attract enough resources to continue the rebuilding program with a keen eye on evolving Zoo standards around the world. With the caliber of senior staff that they have, Baghdad, together with one or two other zoos in the Middle East and several in India and possibly one in Pakistan, could become models for what the region might achieve in terms of improved Zoo standards. A critical issue is a cultural one where Islamic society generally, despite the pro-animal welfare teachings of the Koran, are not generally disposed to proactively promoting high standards of animal welfare. However, there are a few notable exceptions driven by some key individuals and Baghdad’s Deputy Director, Dr. Farrah Murrani is probably one of those.

Kabul

With significantly more of our specially donated funds applied to Kabul than Baghdad one would think that the long-term future there would be better. The difficulty however is that Kabul Zoo has no other resources than ours and no well-trained animal staff. With the exception of the new Education Officer, the general levels of knowledge there are poor. Considerable emphasis is being put into looking for ways that we can provide them with training and also to see whether there is any possibility of the Municipality appointing one or two better qualified people to help run the site.

Approximately half of the resources available for Kabul from the AZA/NC Zoo Society funds have been used to supplement day to day running costs, notably salary supplements and the purchase of animal foods and essential supplies. Currently we are reducing those supplements gradually and it is planned to end them in May. We have asked the Municipality for a plan as to how they intend to fund the site in the coming years. This has not yet been forthcoming. In the meantime, the other half of the available funds are being used for reconstruction purposes. A significant amount has been spent on the improvement of infrastructure, particularly water supply and electric power to all the major buildings. Approximately half the exhibits have either been rebuilt or are in the process of being rebuilt and this program has focused on facilities for the larger carnivores, primates and large birds. The latest photos show very clearly the considerable improvement that has taken place over the last year. Nevertheless, there are a lot of out of date and ramshackle structures, which will either be definitively earmarked for future conversion or demolished and the rubble removed. The Afghans are very reluctant to pull down old buildings in the expectation that they will be rebuilt and one of the challenges here is to convince them that many of these structures would be better removed at this stage and completely replaced if and when resources become available.

Nick Lindsay, senior Curator from the London Zoo and now head of their overseas operations, together with John Lewis, an independent Veterinarian with considerable Zoo animal experience, will be making another week-long visit to Kabul in the latter half of March with a long list of “to dos”. Amongst them will be sterilization of most of the male animals to prevent further reproduction and a clinical assessment of the Asiatic Black Bear, “Donatella”, which has been one of the chronic issues since she was discovered during the early days of our involvement with severe Leishmaniasis and physical damage to her nose. The issue here is the lack of day to day veterinary attention and facilities required to give such an animal the intensive care she needs. This assessment will be followed by a decision on what the long-term prognosis would be for her and where, if treatment is possible, she should be placed (almost certainly out of the country). This team will also be discussing some further capital work with the Municipality, again concentrating on the larger mammals, to include probably a second bear enclosure.

The International Crane Foundation have now come alongside us with a wish to construct a wetlands exhibit for those species of cranes that used to or still use Afghanistan as a migration corridor. The main discussions this time are likely to be around the long-term future of the Zoo and ways in which it can be financially stabilized. Our expectation is to withdraw from further funding by the end of this calendar year, although some reserve funds will be held back against emergency situations. So often in these situations there is a chronic problem of aid reliance- a feeling that those helping now in a country like Afghanistan will continue to assist regardless of what they do for themselves. It is very important that the responsibility be handed back firmly to them well before the funds dry up in order that that hand-over process can be given assistance. What we are trying also is to interest other agencies such as the diplomatic missions (we have already had considerable help from the British Embassy) and United Nations agencies and other aid operations. The long-term hope is that the Kabul Zoo can act as a focus for interest, education and public awareness of the natural environment of this ravaged country. We hope for example that the addition of the International Crane Foundation to the Kabul Zoo team will be the start of a wider coalition where that site can develop its true environmental education potential. At the same time, it is also probably the most popular place in Kabul for families to go on a Friday (their “weekend”). As with Baghdad and other zoological parks across the region, such places are very popular and there is a huge challenge in trying to get the authorities to take them more seriously and begin to use them in ways that parallel the current thinking about the role of Zoos and similar biological institutions elsewhere in the world.

DMJ/jnh
03-03-04


I was pleased to get a personal response from the zoo in North Carolina.

Have a nice Sunday.

Mary