Kabul Zoo is the only place for fun and joy in the city, especially for children and families, even 20 months after the radically austere Taliban regime collapsed in the country.

"On an average day, there are some 1,000 to 1,500 visitors coming to see the animals," said Sheer Agha, director of the zoo which is on the southern edge of the city. He added that the number would triple on public holidays.

The director said the baby lion given birth two weeks ago by the Chinese-donated mother lion Canny has become a main attraction of the zoo.

"Most of the visitors are parents who bring their children here to see the lions," Agha told Xinhua at his second-floor office in the rocket-damaged administrative building of the zoo.

The baby lion, who has yet to be named, was born to Canny and Zhuangzhuang, the couple of African lions given by a private Chinese wildlife park last year as part of its animal donation package to Kabul Zoo.

"China is the only country having donated animals to us after the war, we really appreciate this donation from the friendly Chinese people," said a father who was accompanying his two daughters around the zoo.

Located on the front line between two rival factions, the zoo suffered a fatal impact during the civil war since early 1990s, with the animal populace decimated to around 70, including birds and rabbits, when peace finally befell the country in late 2001.

Widespread international media reports on the death of Marjan, Kabul Zoo's legendary one-eyed lion, in January 2002 inspired zookeepers of the Badaling Wildlife World in Beijing to donate a pair of young lions to show the Chinese people's concern over the hardships in their neighboring country.

The initiative met with enthusiastic response from Afghanistan, where people see the animal as a symbol of bravery.

Canny and Zhuangzhuang, together with seven other animals including two bears and a wolf, arrived at Kabul by a special flight in October 2002.

"Since these Chinese animals arrived here, the number of our visitors is on the rise day by day," said Agha, the zoo director.

"There is no entertainment better than the zoo for me, every week I was asking my dad to take me here, but he didn't," said a 12-year-old named Mohmmad Omar said.

"This time when I heard the lions give birth to a baby, I begged my dad for hundred times, and he agreed," the cheerful boy said, "The lion is my favorite."

"I wish the government and the international community could pay more attention to the rehabilitation of Kabul Zoo," Omar's father said.

However, with more impelling needs on the reconstruction of the war-torn city, the cash-strapped Kabul Municipality even has no money to pay the operational expenses of the zoo, while all ticketing proceeds at the zoo, about US$200 a day, must be handed in to the central bank.

The London-based animal rights group Mayhem Animal Home currently provides some US$1,600 per month in financial assistance for the zoo's daily operation, including an emergence animal food supply project, Agha said.

"Donors seem not to be interested in animals," said Dr. Abdul Qader, who has worked at Kabul Zoo as a veterinarian for 10 years.

"They pledged US$4.5 billion for the country's reconstruction, but even not one dollar for the zoo," he complained.

Qader said the zoo is in urgent need of a veterinary clinic and a zoologist who could provide professional advice on how to take care of the animals, especially the delicate baby lion who only weighted 1.3 kilograms at birth.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2003)