Saturday, August 21, 2021

LET’S NOT FORGET KABUL ZOO

LET’S NOT FORGET KABUL ZOO

I watch the news daily and with despair as I watch the people trying to get out of Afghanistan. My heart bleeds for them, all of them, but especially the women and children. At the same time lets not forget the animals in Kabul Zoo.

A few news items from an earlier time:

February 2000

At the zoo, there is an old blind lion named Marjan, and his story seems a metaphor for the city itself. Once, there were 500 animals on exhibition. Then the civil war of the early 1990's came.
In a lurid carnival of slaughter, some elephants and other great beasts were killed by artillery. Deer were stolen for meat. A building collapsed on the reptiles.
One soldier, displaying his bravery, leaped a wall and strutted through the lion pit, showing he was unafraid to touch Marjan and his mate. The big cat instinctively tore the man apart. A few hours later -- as the elderly zoo keepers now tell the story -- the soldier's brother arrived to take mandatory revenge. He tossed a grenade at the lion, blinding him.
And ever since, Marjan has paced about miserably, without promise for better times, waiting day after day to be fed.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/022500afghan-poverty.html