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M Laurence Anthony.Indd operation zoo rescue TEXT BY ROY WATTS · PHOTOGRAPHS BY GRACIA BENNISH When coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003, Lawrence Anthony, a conservationist in South Africa, contacted the US consulate to find out whether any provisions had been made for the Baghdad Zoo, the largest in the Middle East. When he discovered that it didn’t feature at all in post- invasion plans he mounted an audacious (some would say naïve) rescue effort. Although this story takes place beyond African borders, Africa Geographic is proud to tell you how a South African saved Baghdad’s zoo. ARIADNE VAN ZANDBERGEN WWW.AFRICAGEOGRAPHIC.COM 61 ABOVE, LEFT akjhs dkajhs here was devastation everywhere. in Durban to establish what arrangements thousands of uniforms discarded by fleeing the word ‘ZOO’ in large kjah skjah skdjh aks hdakh Tank tracks ran between the had been made to save the largest zoo in the soldiers. After nine hours and 600 kilometres, letters to the hired Toyota sdkah skdh aksh dkah enclosures, a direct hit had Middle East and discovered that, despite an Anthony and his companions arrived at a and approval was arranged sdkah skh aksh dkah s destroyed a lion’s cage and the entire government-in-waiting, there was no very jittery Baghdad, and the first of several at the checkpoints so that walls were riddled with bullets. hint of concern for the zoo – this from two US checkpoints. The checkpoints had already he could scour Baghdad’s ABOVE, RIGHT akjhs The smell of rotting carcasses filled the air nations, the US and the UK, where animal been targeted by suicide bombers and were volatile, dangerous streets dkajhs kjah skjah skdjh Tand thick carpets of flies covered piles of welfare is a national priority. armed with tanks, machine gun nests and for supplies. aks hdakh sdkah skdh excrement and detritus. Just metres from the With a determination born of obsession, he orders to ‘shoot to kill’. Anthony approached Anthony wanted to set aksh dkah sdkah skh aksh concrete walkways, unexploded fragments of decided to visit Baghdad and embarked on an the guard with his hands held high. up camp on the premises, dkah s cluster bombs lurked, while taps, toilet bowls, obstacle course littered with bureaucratic dead ‘Hi, I’m Lawrence Anthony from KwaZulu- but Sydelik insisted that furniture, roofing sheets, in fact every scrap ends, obstructive government officials and Natal in South Africa, and I’ve come to...’ he stay with the tanks and PREVIOUS SPREAD akjhs of workaday infrastructure had been raided or an occupying army that considered him an ‘Back off!’ tank crews that invaded dkajhs kjah skjah skdjh aks blown away. intrusion. But in war there are heroes behind ‘No, you don’t understand, I’ve come to Baghdad at the Al-Rashid, hdakh sdkah skdh aksh Iraq’s Baghdad Zoo, one of Saddam Hussein’s desks, as well as in the trenches, and the restore Baghdad Zoo...’ an erstwhile luxury hotel. dkah sdkah skh aksh dkah propaganda showpieces, had once boasted an nightmare of red tape was eventually broken ‘BACK OFF!!’ Conditions there were far sakjhs dkajhs kjah skjah inventory of 650 animals and birds. Now, all by Kuwait’s Deputy Minister of Animal Health Lawrence Anthony is a good listener from comfortable – there skdjh aks hdakh sdkah that remained was a scraggly band of 30 des- and Agriculture. The Minister had witnessed and there was sufficient menace in the last was no running water skdh aksh dkah sdkah skh perately weak tigers, lions, bears, porcupines the destruction of his own country’s zoo command to send him scuttling down the or electricity, Anthony’s aksh dkah sakjhs dkajhs and boars – all animals with strong survival during Operation Desert Storm and issued the road to another checkpoint where he modified room on the 7th floor kjah skjah skdjh aks hdakh instincts and a capacity to defend themselves requisite permit to enter Iraq. his approach. Enter Captain Sydelik, a chunky was a mosquito-infested sdkah skdh aksh dkah from the onslaught of determined, hungry Obtaining permission was one thing, American in an armoured troop carrier, sauna and there was only one sdkah skh aksh dkah looters. This was the scene that confronted getting there was quite another. The coalition who escorted the Toyota Trio to the zoo. He shower between 400 men – but it was safer ABOVE akjhs dkajhs kjah sakjhs dkajhs kjah skjah Lawrence Anthony, a passionate South African forces wanted nothing to do with him, so would become a great facilitator, smoothing than remaining at the zoo after dark. After a skjah skdjh aks hdakh skdjh aks hdakh sdkah conservationist who had arrived in Baghdad just with a combination of heroic chutzpah and Anthony’s introduction to Baghdad. night filled with the ceaseless cacophony of sdkah skdh aksh dkah skdh aksh dkah sdkah skh nine days after US tanks rolled into the city. monumental naivety, Anthony hired a Toyota gunfire, something that would continue for sdkah skh aksh dkah s aksh dkah s When coalition forces invaded Iraq in April Cressida and left Kuwait early one morning he zoo was in a corner of the most of his time there, Anthony started his 2003, Anthony, who owns and runs Thula with two employees from the Kuwaiti Zoo 100-hectare El Zawra Park, a once- restoration project in earnest. TOP, LEFT akjhs dkajhs Thula, a private game reserve and lodge in who knew the back roads. beautiful piece of land that had Zoo director Dr Adel Salman Mousa kjah skjah skdjh aks KwaZulu-Natal, saw history preparing to repeat En route they passed what remained of an been ravaged during the battle for rounded up a couple of men and together hdakh sdkah skdh aksh itself. During the conflicts in Kuwait, Kosovo uneven contest. The crack Iraqi Medina Forces Baghdad. That any animals were they began the back-breaking task of finding dkah sdkah skh aksh in Serbia and the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, had been routed in a matter of days, which alive at all was thanks to the zoo’s deputy and transporting supplies. In a basement at dkah s the zoos were annihilated by a combination led to the collapse of the entire army, and Tdirector Dr Husham Mohammed Hussan, the Al-Rashid they came across a treasure of military vandalism, civilian slaughter and the path was strewn with burnt-out tanks who had come to work every day despite not trove of buckets, disinfectants and cleaning TOP, RIGHT akjhs dkajhs neglect. He approached the US consulate and vehicles, abandoned Scud missiles and being paid for months. He welcomed the new materials, and at one of Saddam Hussein’s kjah skjah skdjh aks arrivals with open arms. palaces they ‘requisitioned’ a generator. hdakh sdkah skdh aksh Wandering around, the South African began Hussan, a veritable Mr Fix-It, discovered a dkah sdkah skh aksh With a determination born of obsession, he decided to visit Baghdad and embarked to appreciate the enormity of the task he’d huge pipe running through the park that still dkah s set himself. The zoo, like the rest of Baghdad, had a supply of water, and he jury-rigged a on an obstacle course littered with bureaucratic dead ends, obstructive was without power or water, and constantly feeder that dripped into waiting buckets. At under attack from looters. To give him a small another of Hussein’s residences, the team government officials and an occupying army that considered him an intrusion measure of mobility, Sydelik’s men taped found a freezer full of meat that had, 62 AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC • SEPTEMBER 2006 WWW.AFRICAGEOGRAPHIC.COM 63 akjhs dkajhs kjah skjah skdjh aks hdakh sdkah skdh aksh dkah sdkah skh aksh dkah s At yet another palace, they found a magnificent lion and two lionesses rumoured Well into the relief effort, Anthony received its lawns, lakes and waterways would be a word that a black-market outfit was trading worthwhile PR exercise. to be the man-eaters sustained by the love rivals and enemies of Uday Hussein animals illegally throughout the Middle In the months that followed, Anthony and East. He approached the coalition forces and IFAW were assisted (or hampered in some was given six Humvees, a couple of trucks instances) by visiting NGOs and animal ABOVE, LEFT akjhs dkajhs until then, survived the looters. It provided s the restoration progressed, the and 30 soldiers with which to ‘engage’ the welfare organisations, and Anthony continued kjah skjah skdjh aks hdakh immediate relief for the starving animals focus shifted to rescuing animals owners. The stand-off resulted in an increased to shuttle between Europe, South Africa and sdkah skdh aksh dkah and was an important stopgap until the zoo’s stranded in other facilities. First population of badly neglected camels, foxes, Iraq, raising funds and generating awareness. sdkah skh aksh dkah s butchery was recommissioned to slaughter was the transfer of four ostriches monkeys and an enormous bear, whose After six months, with the zoo in good hands donkeys. from one of Uday Hussein’s love translocation required darting equipment and – Brendan Whittington-Jones was appointed ABOVE, RIGHT akjhs Three days into the operation, the na- nests. In a caper that could have come from a crane. After years of misery in a cramped and operations manager – he returned to his dkajhs kjah skjah skdjh tionality of Anthony’s travelling companions Aa Monty Python episode, one ostrich was uncomfortable cage, it took up residence in a beloved Thula Thula. aks hdakh sdkah skdh was revealed and they fled back to Kuwait in coerced into a troop carrier, where it glared out specially constructed enclosure complete with aksh dkah sdkah skh aksh the hired Toyota, leaving Anthony stranded indignantly over the sides.
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