Zoo No Sanctuary for Animals

Down in Kabul's southwestern area of Deh Mazang, the zoo is a cool green oasis amid the dust and debris of the war-ravaged city.

But all is not as it seems. The animals are apparently up in arms at the conditions they live in, and the zookeepers are angry too.

The increasing numbers of visitors to the ten-hectare stretch of land mean the 34 species of animals, including foreign species mostly donated by China, are subjected to ever more indignities.

Living conditions are rough, and reports coming out of Beijing say the wildlife park which donated two bears and a pair of deer to the Kabul will not be sending any more until things improve.

The zoo attracted renewed interest recently after a female black bear from China, whose mate died last year, broke out of her cage on July 13, said zoo director, Aziz Gul Saqib.

The angry animal killed two pigs in a nearby pen before zookeepers were able to coax her back into a cage.

Amateur animal psychologists attribute the breakout to the grief-stricken bear finally snapping.

“The other bear died nearly a year ago – we informed officials at the Chinese embassy at the time,” head zookeeper Shah Noori told IWPR.

The embassy said it passed the news to Beijing, but had not received a response.

The plight of the bereaved bear strikes a chord with many visitors, despite the apparent callousness of those who torment other animals.

Visitor Paiman, 32, standing with his fiancée watching the bear, commented, “Every living creature wants to be with its partner and not remain alone."

While Noori acknowledges that some cages are too small and conditions could be better, he said most problems were caused not by the animals or the facilities, but by the behaviour of the visitors.

“We have argued with people on a number of occasions about them throwing things at the animals,” he said.

While none of the caged animals is safe from missiles, the monkeys appear to be a favourite target for many in the crowd of people strolling round the grounds in mid-August. They flick cigarettes at the animals through the cage bars or throw food at them.

Another keeper, 63-year-old Mohammad Hussain, said the animals' reactions clearly showed how this upsets them. Many refuse to leave the refuge built into the cages to give them some privacy.

“We don’t have any problems with the animals, but we do have problems with those visitors who are annoying them," he said.

Wolves, kept in three metal cages, are another popular target, and appear fearful of their tormentors. One wolf running around his cage cowered away when this IWPR reporter went close.

On an average weekday, 1,000 people, each paying the equivalent of 20 US cents, visit the zoo, and the numbers rise to 5,000 at a weekend. Entrance fees pay for food for the animals while other international organisations lend a hand to the zoo. The Mayhew Animal Home in Britain has provided assistance worth more than 400,000 dollars over the past 18 months.

It is not that the zoo is particularly spectacular in itself, but there are few other places where people can have a day out.

“There isn’t anywhere nice to go in Kabul except the zoo. It's the only attractive place that everyone can visit with their families," said Paiman.

In the midst of so much destruction within Kabul, the mute evidence of war here – bullet holes and shell damage in the walls around enclosures – barely detracts from the surroundings.

But it does recall the darkest days of civil warfare that wrecked much of the city in the early Nineties.

Mujahedin from all factions were known to treat some of the zoo’s animals, especially deer, as a ready source of food. And in a grim reversal, some would feed captured enemies alive to the lions.

And then there is the story of Marjan, a lion who used to allow a giant of a Panshiri guerrilla to enter his cage and stroke his mane. But when the man tried that with Marjan’s mate, the male lion leapt on him and killed him.

The next day, the man's brother came to the zoo and hurled a grenade at Marjan. The big cat lost an eye in the attack but survived both the civil war and the Taleban regime to die of old age in 2002.

Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul. Hafizullah Gardesh contributed to this report.