Emergency TLC

After years of bullets and bombs, the Kabul Zoo in Afghanistan lies in ruins, its few remaining animals scarred by civil war and torment. The only elephant was killed by a rocket. The sole lion has one eye; its other was lost in a grenade attack. The Afghan bear has a blistering sore on its nose from a beating. The zoo grounds, once well-maintained, are a mess: The bars of the cages are twisted; fresh water and electricity are rare commodities; and medical treatment for the creatures is all but nonexistent.

But help may be on the way. American animal activists and zoo organizations have raised thousands of dollars for the malnourished animals, marking the beginning of an international effort to save the war-battered facility and its inhabitants.

After news reports brought the zoo’s predicament to light, the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. and its European counterparts began a global effort to send food, money and veterinary supplies to the facility. Zoos in several California cities--including San Diego, Los Angeles and Sacramento--are helping with the relief effort. Lora LaMarca, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Zoo, said the zoo had received a number of calls after recent televised reports. Although the zoo has already committed its conservation funds for the year, she said, its employees are collecting money to help the Kabul facility.

As of last week, the effort had raised more than $100,000--far beyond organizers’ initial expectations. About 80% of the money came from individuals, the remainder from zoos. Future donations will be funneled into a newly created fund to aid domestic and working animals in Afghanistan, many of which have been injured during ground combat or abandoned after their owners escaped to Pakistan, organizers said.

But the zoo remains the centerpiece of the association’s efforts. Under the Taliban regime, which took control of Kabul in 1996, the zoo’s 37 species were reduced to 19. Zookeepers were powerless to stop the Taliban fighters, who regularly teased and tortured and reportedly killed some of the animals--including deer and birds--for food. Under Taliban law, women were forbidden to visit.

The situation has worsened in recent months. Now, without funding for its workers or food for the animals, the zoo and its charges are on the verge of dying out.

Zoo workers have not been paid since July and the head zookeeper reportedly has not received his $20 monthly allowance to run the zoo. He has bought food for the animals on credit, while his seven children reportedly are on the verge of going hungry.

The Sunday Times and the World Society for the Protection of Animals, both in London, have temporarily stabilized the zoo by donating $2,000. Dr. David Jones, director of the North Carolina Zoo, which is leading the relief effort, said the trouble is not so much raising the money but getting the supplies, veterinarians and funds to Afghanistan.

“We are not just going to be sending dollars willy-nilly into Afghanistan,” said Jones, who is also chairman of the board of the Brooke Hospital, an animal welfare organization in Pakistan that works to alleviate the suffering of animals such as carriage horses, by providing harnesses that don’t cause skin wounds. He said the association is working with the State Department to find the safest way to deliver money and supplies to the zoo.

This is not the first time zoo workers and animal lovers have aided animals during war. Animals historically have been among war’s forgotten casualties.

During World War II, Allied bombs destroyed much of the Berlin Zoo, which at one time housed 14,000 animals. By the war’s end, only 1,200 malnourished animals remained. U.S. airplanes dropped food and medical rations not only for the civilians of the war-torn city but also for the zoo animals.

After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, soldiers set up camp in the Kuwait Zoo, teasing and shooting many of the animals. At the time, Jones was director of the London Zoo, and he, along with various animal welfare agencies in the United Kingdom, organized a relief effort, sending in a team of veterinarians to nurse the injured animals back to health.

The plight of Afghanistan’s one-eyed lion, Marjan, is particularly poignant. Marjan was a gift to the Kabul Zoo from the Germans in the late 1970s. He immediately became a star attraction, running regally in a compound along the Kabul River and drawing bigger crowds than the Australian kangaroos, the Indian elephant and the American raccoons.

Now 45, his face is lopsided, and he can barely walk. (Lions typically live 15 to 18 years in the wild, and can live to be 30 or older in captivity.) He is almost blind in his remaining eye. The grenade attack that injured him is said to be the work of an Afghan seeking revenge because the lion reportedly killed a friend of his who had entered the compound to tease the lion.

Such tales have prompted an outpouring from people in California and across the country. In addition to the zoos in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco, the San Diego Zoo was considering how to help. As of last week, the zoo had not committed money but is in continued contact with the zoo association about the situation, a spokeswoman said.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. consists of 201 accredited zoos and aquariums. Members who have already made donations include the African Wildlife Safari Park in Ohio, the Cincinnati Zoo, the Columbus Zoo, the Dallas World Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Milwaukee County Zoo and the Pittsburg Zoo.

“The response has been unbelievable,” said Rod Hackney, spokesman for the North Carolina Zoo, which has received hundreds of e-mails from concerned patrons. “The story of these animals has really touched a chord in the hearts of many people.”

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Donations for the Kabul Zoo can be sent to the North Carolina Zoo Society, 4403 Zoo Parkway, Asheboro, N.C., 27205. For information, call (888) 244-3736 or go online to www.nczoo.com/kabul.html.