Babylon's Ark

BABYLON'S ARK: THE INCREDIBLE WARTIME RESCUE OF THE BAGHDAD ZOO: Lawrence Anthony: St. Martin's: 2007: Nonfiction: 248 pages

Lawrence Anthony's story of his and other's efforts to save the animals of the Baghdad Zoo after coalition forces toppled the Ba'athist regime in 2003 is fascinating and heartbreaking.
No one had much time to think about what might be happening to the zoo animals during the days of "shock and awe" and immediately following, but when word got out that they were in deep distress, Anthony came from his South African game preserve, and with the help of various surviving zoo employees, sympathetic coalition soldiers, the Provisional Government, and some international wildlife rescue organizations, he saved many animals and brought the zoo back to tenuous life. Anthony's stories of the looting of the zoo, when rare and exotic species were stolen to be sold or eaten, and where clean water and food were non-existent (workers had to buy donkeys off the streets of Baghdad to feed to the lions), are extraordinary. The dangers inherent in any activity in Iraq during that time are also tellingly portrayed--what amounted to a commando operation was required to "liberate" Saddam Hussein's purebred Arabian horses from racetrack stables, and one zoo employee was severely beaten and stabbed because he was working for the "enemy." Babylon's Ark is fascinating reading for anyone interested in animals, the war in Iraq, and what might be accomplished by fearful but determined workers in a good cause.

LW