Dear Donors and Friends of the Kabul Zoo and Afghan Animal Funds.
Yesterday, N.C. Zoo Director Dr. David Jones received an update from WSPA dated
Monday 21st January. I have summarized that report to send you the following update:
By January 21, all five members off a WSPA animal rescue team had arrived in Kabul.
The team was sponsored with funding from the N.C. Zoo Society's Kabul Zoo and
Afghan Animal Funds. The team includes a qualified veterinarian and is based at the Kabul
Zoo.
Three of the members are concerned primarily with helping the zoo's animals, while the
other two team members will spend significant time assessing the needs of Kabul's other
animals.
Actions Sponsored by Your Gifts to the Kabul Zoo Fund
The Zoo team is addressing the immediate needs of the animals, especially the needs that
have grown from malnutrition. (Prior to the arrival of the WSPA team and the funds
provided by gifts to the Kabul Zoo and Afghan Animal Funds, keepers literally begged,
borrowed and stole food to feed the animals. Consequently, the animal's diets were
dictated by what was available, not by what was nutritionally sound.)
WSPA workers are rectifying this situation. For example the Zoo's raptors (three eagles,
two owls and four falcons) were getting only slices of meat (which is mostly muscle and
fat tissues and, therefore lacks many essential nutrients). WSPA staff is securing whole
mice and other rodents to feed the raptors, which should correct their digestive problems.
Marjan the lion
Until the team arrived, Marjan's diet consisted of only beef and fat-quite a poor diet. He
was very thin. Now he is receiving liver, lungs, heart, eggs (raw), and chicken (whole),
consuming over 5 kg per day. Staff hopes his appetite will grow even larger as he
becomes more accustomed to an even broader range of nutritional foods in the coming
days.
WSPA Veterinarian Dr. Juan Carlos Murillo examining Marjan the lion. |
WSPA's veterinarian, Dr. Juan Carlos Murillo, is giving Marjan two injections of vitamin
supplements daily. On Friday 18th January 2002, WSPA's John Walsh arranged for a
heater to be installed in Marjan's indoor quarters. Workers light the heater from 4 p.m.
until 8 a.m. The team reports that during the day, Marjan spends most of his time now
basking in the sun.
WSPA Veterinarian sharing a healthy treat with Kabul Zoo's Black Bear. |
The Asiatic Black Bear (Named either: Donatella, Samboo or Opal, we are not sure)
The bear's nose wound is being treated daily with penicillin and an antifungal medication
(kitaparasol) is being given to her in her food. These treatments seem to be working. She
has shed the layer of dead skin that covered the wound, and the infection is clearing up.
The wound is still raw, and bleeds from time to time, mostly because she rubs her nose on
her small cage. By Friday, she will be moved to a larger enclosure, made possible with
Kabul Zoo funding, that has some trees, rocks and a pool/moat. It is also elevated and will
give Donatella great views of her surroundings. This change will give her space to move
around, things to do during the day and even more protection from visitors. WSPA's Dr.
Juan Carlos Murillo said, "Despite all her hardship, she is one of the friendliest bears I
have ever met."
Other Animals
Various enrichments have been done to the cages of many of the animals including the
birds, two wild cats (indigenous to Afghanistan), and two porcupines. A carpenter is on
site permanently making nesting boxes and perches (previously the raptors could only sit
on the floors of their cages.). Logs have been obtained for many cages. The porcupines
particularly like these. They enjoy eating the bark and one sleeps in a hollowed log. They
both look great.
The two wolves are living in two tiny separate cages to prevent them from fighting. They
appear very stressed and circle repeatedly for much of the day in figure-eight patterns. A
builder hired with gifts to the Kabul Zoo Fund is currently finishing the walls of a good
wooded enclosure in which the two wolves should do fine.
Unfortunately, WSPA's John Walsh has found what appears to be an unexploded antitank
missile in this enclosure. A bomb disposal team is being called in to take care of this
problem.
WSPA's John Walsh has been arranging the connection of water and electricity to the zoo,
which should be connected in the next few days
Educational Efforts
WSPA's veterinarian tours the zoo each morning and is gradually trying to educate the zoo
staff on animal welfare issues. The WSPA team has arranged for numerous signs to be
displayed throughout the zoo telling visitors not to harm the animals. Additional fencing is
also being erected to prevent visitors from getting too close to the animals.
WSPA's John Walsh said, "We've been here a week now, and I think we've begun to
turn the tide. The health of the animals is really improving and the atmosphere at the zoo is
really good. However, we're still really just supplying a band-aid and it will take
prolonged support to ensure these animals don't slip into decline again. After WSPA has
sorted out the immediate dangers, I believe the international zoo community will be ready
to do this."
Actions Supported by Your Gifts to the Afghan Animal Fund
WSPA's Trevor Wheeler and Gerardo Huertas have succeeded in establishing contact with
the four existing veterinary stations in Kabul. The WSPA team is currently distributing
much needed veterinary supplies and medicines, purchased through gifts to the Afghan
Animal Fund, to the veterinarians at these clinics, which will operate as "drop-in" centers
for people with their animals.
A good network of veterinarians and veterinary clinics is now operating throughout the
city, and WSPA staff is encouraging people to take their injured or sick animals to these
facilities. Gifts to the Afghan Animal Fund have provided about $10,000 worth of
veterinary drugs to these clinics. This should keep the clinics going for a week or two.
Until recently, the two members of the WSPA Afghan Animal Team have spent a
considerable amount of their time helping the three Kabul Zoo team members. During the
next two weeks, the Afghan Animal team members will become more active in looking at
animals outside of the zoo. A more lengthy report on their efforts will be forthcoming in a
couple of weeks.
General Effects of the Conflict
Kabul Zoo is situated in part of the capital hardest hit by fighting during the previous
conflict, when it was right on the front line. Although the area is now peaceful, no attempt
has been made to rebuild and there is barely a building standing for over a mile as you
drive out of town from the zoo, with local families struggling to exist among the ruins of
their former homes.
Authorities in Kabul have told the WSPA team that it is still not safe to travel outside of
Kabul as the administration does not have control of many areas and bandits lurk on many
of the roads.
On the route to Kabul from Bagram airport there is a lot of evidence of recent fighting
between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. Whole villages have been destroyed and
bombed out tanks, armoured personnel carriers and machine gun posts litter the road.
Many of these posts have now been taken over by Northern Alliance forces.
Two mines exploded at the airport within minutes of the WSPA team arriving. Mines are
everywhere along the route from the airport along with unexploded shells and missiles. It
is an incredibly eerie landscape, the devastation surrounded by desert and snow-topped
mountains.
THANK YOU
The N.C. Zoo, Zoo Society and the all the animals in Afghanistan want to express their
thanks to all of the very special donors who have provided the funding to make these
humanitarian efforts possible.
To date, WSPA has spent or encumbered $75,000 on its animal welfare efforts in Afghanistan. Of that total, $60,000 has been provided by the Afghan Animal and Kabul Zoo Funds that you have built.
Your generosity has already provided six months of back salary and current full-time jobs
to the Kabul Zoo staff; brought warmth, food, medical care and comfort to the Kabul
Zoo's animals; provided jobs to Afghan welders and carpenters and other people working
to improve the zoo animals' spaces and diets; and has begun a network of veterinary
services to help the domestic animals in Kabul. What wonderful work you have
sponsored!
Thank You,
Russell H. Williams
Executive Director
