Conditions Improving at Kabul Zoo

Stentor Danielson
National Geographic News

June 10, 2002

Years of war in Afghanistan have taken a heavy toll not only on the
country's people but also on its animals. The residents of the Kabul Zoo
have been among the most badly affected.

Fortunately, an outpouring of international effort has helped the zoo begin recovering from Afghanistan's civil war and the turmoil of the Taliban regime.

"The zoo is a strong symbol of hope" for the people of Kabul, said Hayden Turner, an Australian who is active in wildlife conservation.

Turner, who has been a zookeeper at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, went to Kabul this past winter with a team from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) to provide desperately needed care to the animals at the Kabul Zoo. His experiences are the subject of a new National Geographic Channel documentary, "Kabul Zoo Rescue."

International Response

The Kabul Zoo's population declined to less than 40 as a result of the hardships in recent years. The documentary looks at the treatment of four of the inhabitants: a lion named Marjan, a bear named Donatella, and a pair of wolves.

Marjan, who was elderly and in overall poor health, died while the WSPA team was in Kabul, but the group was able to relocate Donatella and the wolves to better quarters.

In an interview, Turner said he has learned since leaving Kabul that the animals featured in the documentary are recovering well.

The WSPA team also treated an eagle with an infected eye, and the bird has healed completely, Turner noted.

Mary Rosevear, director of the Federation of British Zoos, said a number of zoos around the world have organized under the banner of the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria (WAZA) to help the Kabul Zoo and its animals.

She said John Lewis, an English veterinarian, visited the zoo in April to examine Donatella, whose nose had been slashed by a Taliban soldier. The injury has been aggravated by the bear repeatedly rubbing her nose against the bars of her small cage. Lewis treated Donatella and determined her infection was fungal, and she is now undergoing treatment and healing properly.

International concern about the zoo's situation grew last November when media coverage of the zoo, particularly of Marjan's precarious condition, reached the public. "The thing snowballed, particularly in the U.S.A.," Rosevear said.

The "lion's share" of funding for WAZA efforts, she added, has come from public donations, but many zoological societies have also contributed.

Rosevear said WAZA is using the funds to provide the most critical needs and is not sending money directly to the Kabul Zoo to avoid raising hopes of an endless stream of international aid.

The "True Heroes"

Turner said the "true heroes" of the desperate situation are a dozen zookeepers in Kabul—"a bunch of dedicated guys who don't have an incredible amount of resources."

The Afghan zookeepers braved the crossfire of the fighting between the Taliban and other Afghan groups to get supplies to the zoo. Unexploded ordnance was found around and within the zoo, and some buildings had been damaged by bombs.

"How they survived I do not know," Turner said.

Until the WSPA team arrived, the zoo had been without electricity or running water. Other resources were in short supply as well, because helping the zoo was not a high priority for most Afghans, who have had to struggle for their own survival.

"Something can mean a lot to you, but there's nothing you can do about it," Turner said.

Turner views it as an encouraging development that the zookeepers will soon have uniforms to wear.

In a project such as this, he said, it is important to keep in mind that the aim is to help local people in their own efforts, not to be a hero. "You go into a situation, you go and talk to the people, ask them what they want, make sure they have ownership," he said.

Rosevear agreed. "We want them [the Afghans] to call the shots," she said.

Turner said he was pleased to be able to share animal husbandry techniques and methods of environmental and behavioral enrichment for the animals, noting: "It's all about sharing ideas." The Afghan keepers were receptive to the ideas brought by the WSPA team, such as the "activity feeder" made for the zoo's macaques.

Helping Animals and Helping People

Although the international effort to improve conditions at the Kabul Zoo has generally been lauded, Turner said some people see the concern as misdirected because it focuses on animals of Afghanistan while so many of the people may be starving. He acknowledged that it is a difficult issue, and said the question of priorities is a matter of personal opinion.

"Where do you start to say it's OK to help animals?" he said. "What's the cutoff point?"

Helping animals did not mean he thought they were more important than people, he said. "I work with people and animals," he emphasized.

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