Starving Big Cats Are Only Animals Left at Looted Zoo
Amid the heavy looting in Iraq’s capital, monkeys, bears, horses, birds and camels have disappeared from the zoo, carted off by thieves or simply left to roam the streets after their cages were pried open.
Of the zoo’s more than 300 animals, only the lions and tigers remain, neglected and starving in their enclosures.
In the days since U.S. troops entered the Iraqi capital, looters have ruled the amusement park in which Baghdad Zoo stands, roaming the site with rifles and crowbars and making off with anything of value.
“I am frightened to come here,” zoo veterinarian Hashim Mohammed Hussein said Thursday as gunfire crackled. “But I have to see my animals. They are hungry, but we have no money to feed them.”
Mandor, a 20-year-old Siberian tiger and the personal property of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday, was slumped against the green bars of his cage, his coat hanging loose on his bones.
He looked up briefly as the vet approached, only to hang his head again when he realized his keeper was empty-handed. Hashim Mohammed Hussein said the animals were last fed properly 10 days ago.
“There is no government, no security ... ,” he said. “We are alone here and without help. Our animals will die.”
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