“5/06/2009, 9:31am EST”
Afghanistan’s only domesticated pig — housed at a Kabul zoo — has been quarantined to avoid upsetting visitors with misinformed fears of catching swine flu.
The article goes into the recent history of Kabul’s zoo, which comes across almost mythically:
Shabby and rundown, Kabul Zoo is a far cry from zoos in the developed world, but has nevertheless come a long way since it suffered on the front line of Afghanistan’s 1992-4 civil war.
Mujahideen fighters then ate the deer and rabbits and shot dead the zoo’s sole elephant. Shells shattered the aquarium.
One fighter climbed into the lion enclosure but was immediately killed by Marjan, the zoo’s most famous inhabitant. The man’s brother returned the next day and lobbed a hand grenade at the lion leaving him toothless and blind.
The zoo now holds two lions who replaced Marjan who died of old age in 2002 as well as endangered local leopards. In all, it houses 42 species of birds and mammals and 36 types of fish and attracts up to 10,000 visitors on weekends.
h/t Jesse for the article
Never leave home without it.
