Baghdad zoo
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Located in the heart of al-Zawra entertainment park in Baghdad, Iraq, the Baghdad zoo once housed 650 animals.
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[edit] History
It was built in 1971, but according to 18th-century standards, containing small confinement spaces that some considered inhumane. After the first Gulf War, Iraq's zoos suffered from U.N. sanctions which limited particular foods, medicines and vaccines.
Saddam Hussein closed the zoo for renovations in the Spring of 2002, but instead turned it into a quasi-military base.
[edit] 2003 Invasion
The zoo was later ravaged during the 2003 U.S. invasion. For their own safety, zoo workers suspended feeding the animals in early April, 2003, when Fedayeen troops took up defensive positions around the zoo as U.S. forces began the invasion of Baghdad. The zoo became a battlefield and the deserted animals were forced to fend for themselves.
Several lions escaped from the abandoned zoo, and were rounded up by American soldiers in armored troop carriers. Three that would not return to their cages were shot by the soldiers. [1]. Comics author Brian K. Vaughan turned the lions' story into a fictionalized comic book, Pride of Baghdad, giving the lions speech and personalities.
During the absence of zoo staff and officials, the zoo was severely looted. Cages were torn open by thieves who released or took hundreds of animals and birds. Zoo staff claimed most of the birds and game animals were taken for food as pre war food shortages in Baghdad were exacerbated by the invasion.The remaining animals were found in critical condition, dying of thirst and starving in their cages, including Mandor, a 20-year-old Siberian tiger that was the personal property of Uday Hussein, and Saida a blind Iraqi brown bear. Many animals were found roaming the zoo grounds.
In mid April 2003 South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony from the Thula Thula Game Reserve in Zululand, traveled in a hired car with two assistants from Kuwait to bring relief to the Baghdad zoo. Working with the Baghdad Zoo directors Dr Adel Salman Mousa, and Dr Husham Mohamed Hussan, and a few returning staff, they started caring for and feeding the pitiful remaining animals, restoring basic hygiene standards, and stabilizing the situation.
Captain William Sumner of US Army 354 Civil Affairs was seconded to the Zoo and joined the team improving security and stemming the tide of looters. Iraqi vet Farah Murrani joined the rescue effort with Brendan Whittington- Jones of the Thula Thula game reserve. At various times they were joined by other conservation organizations including Wildaid, Care for the Wild, and IFAW.
Anthony was appointed Zoo administrator by the US Army to bring normalcy back to the zoo and care for the remaining animals. After the 2003 invasion he was the first civilian to gain entry to Iraq.There are now more than 80 animals at the zoo, the balance of which were rescued from menageries at the Hussein family palaces and horrific private zoos around Baghdad during the ongoing conflict, including lions, tigers, brown bears, wolves, foxes, jackals, camels, ostrich, badgers and some primates.
The zoo and surrounding Al Zawra Park reopened to the public on July 20, 2003, following improvements and renovations by US Army engineers and featured 86 animals, including all 19 surviving lions.
[edit] Tiger Shot
On September 18, 2003, a group of U.S. soldiers had a party in the zoo after it had closed. One soldier, Specialist Mitchell of the 422 Civil Affairs Battalion, passed through a first cage intended only for keepers and approached a second cage housing a Bengal tiger, named Malooh. The soldier attempted to touch the tiger through the cage bars, but the tiger mauled his arm and bit off his finger. A second soldier shot and killed the tiger. For his action, the Specialist was reduced in rank, but later promoted. No other punishment was applied. [2]
The Bengal tiger is an endangered species which is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
Whittington-Jones and Murrani remained at the zoo for a further year during which time they also found homes in the US for over 30 Baghdad street dogs.
The story of the rescue of the Baghdad zoo is recounted in the book Babylon's Ark by authors Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence
[edit] External links
Zoo • Public aquarium • Aviary • Menagerie • Tourist attraction
List of zoos • List of aquaria • List of zoo associations
Animals in captivity • Environmental enrichment • Endangered species • Conservation biology • Biodiversity • Endangered species • Extinction • Ex-situ conservation • In-situ conservation • Wildlife conservation • Zoology
