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Afghan zoo gets new inhabitants©Associated PressOctober 3, 2002 KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Kabul Zoo took delivery Wednesday of a precious Chinese gift -- two lions to replace Marjan, the one-eyed, defanged king of beasts who died earlier this year. The new lions, part of a menagerie that also included two deer, two bears, two pigs and a wolf, were given by Beijing's Badaling Safari World, trucked overland to Xinjiang province in western China, and flown to Kabul in a giant Russian-made cargo jet. China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Sun Yuxi, said that the donation was "a gesture of peace" and that Chinese experts would teach Afghan zookeepers how to care for the creatures. Late Wednesday, the two lions -- 165-pound male Zhuang Zhuang and 143-pound female Kelly -- were lifted in green metal cages by a crane and lowered into a grassy pen surrounded by rocky walls. Some international organizations and zoos overseas have said the bomb-blasted zoo is not ready to take in new occupants and care for them properly. But Kabul Zoo director Sher Agha Omar said the zoo has been ready for months. The London-based World Society for the Protection of Animals donated some money for electricity and a water pump and said it would help ensure the animals were fed, he said.
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