The Wood Duck

The Wood Duck, our HNC journal, is available to HNC members, and comes out nine times a year. Each 'Duck' contains 24 pages of illustrated articles ranging from bird records, to dragonfly counts, to environmental issues, to South American adventures. (View recent article.)

The Wood Duck is now available on-line (immediately below). If you would rather read the Wood Duck online and no longer wish to receive a mailed copy, e-mail our Membership Director and ask to have your mailed Wood Duck discontinued.

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Archived issues of The Wood Duck can be found at the bottom of this page.

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A Recent Wood Duck Article

BABYLON'S ARK: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo

By Lawrence Anthony, from the February 2010 issue of the Wood Duck
Thomas Dunne Books, 2007.

At Baghdad Zoo

If you haven’t yet had the good fortune to read this book, I would heartily encourage you to do so. Babylon’s Ark recounts the transformation of the Baghdad Zoo from war-ravaged shell to secure haven. Animal lovers will find inspiration in this riveting, often harrowing, adventure—a moving tale of perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. Author Lawrence Anthony, an acclaimed environmentalist and explorer, is head of conservation at the Thula Thula game reserve in South Africa. The UN awarded him its Earth Day award in recognition of his achievement in Baghdad.
Babylon’s Ark opens with the author’s arrival at the Baghdad Zoo, where the appalling condition of its inmates came as a shock: “…I was at first so dismayed that I considered getting a rifle and shooting each animal on the spot.” Apart from Dr. Husham, the zoo veterinarian, only two members of the original zoo staff remained on the job. That any of the animals were alive was a tribute to the remarkable resourcefulness and diligence of their caretakers. “A superb do-it-yourself improviser,” Dr. Husham “was an impressive handyman, as his jury-rigged viaduct system currently keeping the animals alive attested.”

With the animals hanging to life by a thread, Anthony got down to work. The top priority was to secure a reliable source of water. Summer had not yet arrived, and already the animals were at risk of dehydration from the heat. Repairing the pumps was critical: “they were the key to everything.” In the meantime, water had to be laboriously fetched from the canal in rusty cans, since looters routinely pilfered buckets. “A bucket was worth a few meager cents to a looter, but to the lions or bears it was the difference of whether they drank that day or not.”

Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony

A breakthrough came when a sergeant donated two spare batteries to start zoo’s pumps. Then, against all odds, a dynamo to charge the batteries was tracked down at one of the many stalls selling looted goods. A long-awaited cool shower soon transformed the tigers’ coats “from brown to orange and golds.” Better yet, the animals’ “weeping wounds and mangy sores” could begin to heal now that the pumps were back in service.

Next to securing a water supply and repairing the lion’s cage, the most urgent concern was finding food for the animals. Once the supplies Anthony had brought from Kuwait were used up, he reluctantly tapped the only affordable food source—“the ubiquitous donkey.” Anthony began delivering “bloody chunks of freshly hacked donkey flesh” to the animals by hand, using a baggage cart from the hotel. Alas, looters made off with the cart a day later. Anthony realized that unless the problem of looting was addressed, “the zoo would perish.”

The U.S. army was too busy fighting a war to defend the zoo against looters, and its soldiers were not allowed to address the problem with force. Many, however, were very sympathetic to the cause, some even donating their field rations to feed the animals. One group of soldiers went so far as to purchase some sheep—at extortionate rates—to feed the zoo’s felines. Their “tremendously generous gesture” was nullified when looters stole the entire flock. The incident struck home with the military, who built a jail at the zoo and tossed offenders inside for up to three days at a time. Although Anthony’s requests for guns were officially denied, a captain quietly slipped the author a pistol, thereby “putting his career on the line for the survival of the zoo.”

Almost as moving as the animals’ plight were the dedicated efforts of many individuals on their behalf. Having “managed to scrounge some slabs of rancid beef from a pavement dealer, paying with the few dinars they had between them,” the zookeepers carried the bloody slabs on their back for three miles. And it wasn’t only the animals that needed feeding: the zookeepers were starving. If they weren’t provided for, they would understandably divert food from the animals to their families. Anthony was tipped off about a stash of flour, rice, and canned goods in the basement of the Al-Rashid Hotel, and a crisis was averted. When the Coalition Administration eventually dipped into the Hussein billions and put municipal workers on the payroll, the zoo workers returned to work.

Skewed reporting had not prepared Anthony for the “wretched hellhole” that was Baghdad. He vividly describes a war zone of continuing hostilities and firefights, punctuated by “guttural machine-gun staccato.” Even in the midst of chaos, and Green Berets (American Special Forces), soldiers and caring individuals from many sectors took the animals’ welfare to heart. Their dedication and ingenuity helped resolve problems and restore the zoo to working order. “The most magnificent gesture of all” was the unauthorized donation of a generator by a soldier. This gift beyond measure provided power for a freezer, so that meat stores would not rot, and for security lighting at night. Stephan Bodnar, a Canadian with WildAid, an international animal welfare body, contributed cash, labour and knowledge.

A significant breakthrough came with the appointment of Capt. William Sumner as military curator for the zoo. Filthy cages had to be cleaned so that the animals’ sores and infections could begin to heal, and Sumner promptly set looters to the task Anthony was able to obtain industrial detergent and disinfectant among the supplies stored in the labyrinthine basement of the Al-Rashid.

In the last chapter, the author broadens his gaze: “The symbolism of saving a handful of war-traumatized, starving animals in a square-mile tract of land was to me far beyond the actual significance of the zoo itself.” Anthony tallies a “litany of disasters” caused by our reckless mismanagement of the planet, and makes an impassioned plea for the environment upon which animals and humans alike depend. If we are to survive, we must “live in dynamic collaboration with the plant and animal kingdoms in a healthy, life-sustaining environment.” To that end, Anthony has founded the Earth Organization, a non-profit, international conservation and environmental group. For information, visit www.earthorganization.org.

Archived Issues of The Wood Duck

2010

January 2010 (PDF - 596 KB)

2009

2008