Two tiger cubs give a boost to Baghdad Zoo

BAGHDAD - The Baghdad Zoo yesterday welcomed a pair of rare Bengal tiger cubs that were donated by a North Carolina animal sanctuary despite protests by animal-rights activists.

The tigers - a male and a female named Riley and Hope - frolicked with red and blue balls in a wading pool and playfully wrestled with each other in their cage, while U.S. soldiers and journalists snapped pictures and delighted Iraqis strolled by.

The animals, which were donated by the North Carolina-based Conservators' Center, arrived Monday after being flown to Baghdad from the United States in a $66,000 trip funded by the U.S. Embassy.

Like many other Iraqi institutions, the Baghdad Zoo is struggling to emerge from years of devastation after the U.S. invasion in March 2003, and officials showed off the tigers as proof of progress.

"This is a good day for the tigers, the zoo, and the people of Iraq," zoo director Adel Salman Mousa said at the park in central Baghdad.

But animal-rights activists, led by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, criticized the move, saying it was premature as Baghdad continues to suffer from violence and destroyed infrastructure.

They pointed to past violence against animals at the zoo, many of which were killed amid widespread fighting that ensued after the Americans captured Baghdad.

U.S. actress Kim Basinger also sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unsuccessfully appealing for it to revoke the export permit for the Bengal tigers, which are an endangered species.

The Conservators' Center, a nonprofit sanctuary and breeding facility, said it decided to send the tigers to Baghdad to help boost restoration efforts and education work at the zoo.

"We have full confidence that the Baghdad Zoo has the staff and facilities to care for them long into the future," spokesman Mindy Stinner said.

U.S. military and zoo officials said they had spent more than a year preparing for the tigers' arrival.

Mousa said the veterinarian staff had been trained to care for the tigers, who would be fed 13 to 18 pounds of red meat each day.

It was the first foreign donation of animals to the zoo, which has 788 animals in 62 exhibits, he said, adding that he hoped to add more animals.

The zoo, established in 1973 and owned by Saddam's feared son, Odai, has enjoyed a revival with the recent decline in violence, boasting 2,000 to 3,000 visitors on weekdays and 10,000 on weekends, Mousa said. That's up from about 120 a day in 2006.