Years of fighting and famine have reduced the once high class menagerie, which housed over 100 species, to a pitiful collection of animals, many of which sport battle scars from the various military conflicts which have raged across Afganistan in the last few decades.


From a grendade wounded 45 year old lion, to the wild boar which was one of few the edible animals that was not eaten during famine years (prohibitions on pork), the collection has been mainly neglected and sometimes outrightly abused by the various ruling factions which have run Kabul.
Though interest in the zoo is picking up with the fall of Kabul to the Northern Alliance, long time zoo director Sheragha Omar doubts they will bring the money or interest the zoo needs to survive. He currently relies on the kindness of locals, including the local butcher, who supplies his wounded lion and the other carnivores with meat.

Articles discussing the plight of the zoo can be found at the BBC,or Yahoo