£160,000 raised to save Marjan

Marjan, the one-eyed lion of Kabul, could be saved from an uncertain future after a worldwide campaign by animal lovers has raised £160,000 to help him.

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.

Now a worldwide campaign to provide food and emergency aid to the zoo has been masterminded by David Jones, one of Britain's leading zoologists and a former chief executive of London Zoo. It has raised £160,000 to date.

Other animals in the zoo have suffered alongside Marjan. One of the bears has a scarred nose, the result of brutal treatment by Taliban soldiers.

Dr Jones is the director of the North Carolina Zoological Park and chairman of the London-based Brooke Hospital for Animals, which has a clinic in Pakistan. He left London Zoo in 1994.

The money raised so far, he said, would be enough to meet the immediate needs of food and veterinary care and to make the most urgent improvements to the bullet-riddled buildings.

At the same time, in Britain, Dominic Tropeano, director of Colchester Zoo - a leading light in the 280-strong European Association of Zoos and Aquaria - has offered to fly to Afghanistan with a team of experts once the country is declared safe.

The association and the Londonbased World Society for the Protection of Animals have also been raising funds. However, given the thousands generated worldwide, organisers have begun another fund to help domestic animals such as cats, dogs, donkeys and horses.

Along with the money comes what Dr Jones calls the inevitable question: why so much effort and concern for animals when millions of people in Afghanistan need food and shelter?

He and other organisers offer two answers. About half of all Afghans depend on horses, mules, donkeys and other animals in daily life. Many of those animals are turning up at the Pakistan border close to starvation and with bad sores caused by makeshift saddles.

The other reason given is that rebuilding the zoo, museums and other cultural institutions is important to Afghanistan's recovery. Dr Jones said: "These animals are survivors, and they are pretty symbolic of what's happened to the country. I think they deserve some tender loving care, as do the people, after 20 years of war."

The 100-acre zoo near the banks of the Kabul River opened in about 1967. It was designed partly by Gunther Nogge, who is now director of the Cologne Zoo in Germany. By 1972, the zoo had 417 animals, mostly native to Afghanistan.

Campaigners now hope to restore the zoo to its former splendour.