Marjan mercy mission heads out

Two animal experts will fly out from London to Afghanistan tomorrow in a desperate effort to help save Marjan, the one-eyed lion of Kabul.

The team, the first to go to the country on behalf of an £160,000 international emergency relief fund, will assess the situation at Kabul Zoo, where up to 40 animals are kept in appalling conditions.

They will take £10,000 worth of food and drugs, including vaccines and antibiotics for the animals, many of which have been badly injured or starved as a result of the war. The men, John Walsh and Gerardo Huertef, are senior officials with the World Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which is based at Vauxhall.

Chief executive of the charity, Andrew Dickson, said: "They are among the most experienced in the world when it comes to dealing with animals caught up in situations like this.

"They worked in Kosovo and will be paving the way for veterinary staff who are expected to be flown into the city, once it is safe, possibly next week.

"We understand there is a potential rabies problem among the city's dogs.

"Animals will have to be put down if they are infected by the disease." The plight of Marjan, who lost an eye when an Afghan threw a grenade at him six years ago, prompted a wave of sympathy when his picture appeared in the Evening Standard.

The 45-year-old lion had been badly neglected under the Taliban, but the appalling conditions in which he and the rest of the menagerie had been kept at Kabul Zoo only came to light when the regime crumbled.