Relief on the Way to Animals and Humans in Iraq

AMMAN, Jordan, April 18, 2003 (ENS) - Looters have ransacked the Baghdad Zoo, leaving only the large carnivores, now skinny and bedraggled after many meatless days. The zookeepers fled during coalition bombardment of the city, leaving the caged animals thirsty and starving. Now the camels and horses are gone, the birds were taken by looters, and the monkeys and other animals were released from their cages to roam the city.

The animals still in their cages may fare better than those on the streets. Iraqis and U.S. troops are reported to be carrying water to the lions and tigers, and real relief is on the way. American zoos are responding to their need.

“We are aware of the plight of the animals in Baghdad and as we did for the Kabul Zoo, we are offering our help,” said Sydney Butler, executive director of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA).

North American zoo and aquarium professionals have been in discussions with the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and other animal welfare organizations both here and in Europe regarding aid to Baghdad, Butler said.

Sgt. Michael Bush, a 101st Airborne Division medic, hands boxes of medical supplies to citizens working at a health clinic Thursday in Baghdad. (Photo by Pfc. James Matise courtesy U.S. Army)

"As urgent as the need is for humanitarian aid, there is also the need to help animals that have been suffering during these times. As members of the international zoological community, we feel that this is where our expertise and efforts are best spent at this time,” said Jones.

Jones and the AZA are working with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad to coordinate the relief effort.

WSPA's disaster relief team intend to coordinate an assessment operation for animals in Iraq as soon as it is safe to do so. Emergency relief is likely to include the provision of food and first aid, the supply of drugs and equipment to veterinary authorities, and training and support for local vets, the WSPA says. Long term support for local vets and animal welfare societies working to relieve the suffering of animals in post-war Iraq is in the works.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has announced a $25,000 emergency fund for this mission and will work with the World Society for the Protection of Animals to bring relief to the caged animals. The emergency IFAW funding will go directly to the team on the ground to provide veterinary care, animal feed, and other vital support, the organization said.

Kuwait shipped seven tons of frozen meat, fruit, vegetables and feed by truck to Iraq today, not for human food, but for the remaining zoo animals, the Associated Press reported.

Hungry humans can expect relief too, now that the fighting has lessened. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said a convoy of 50 trucks loaded with 1,400 tons of wheat flour crossed the Jordanian-Iraqi border Thursday morning and was expected to reach Baghdad today.

The convoy established WFP's second humanitarian corridor into Iraq, spokesman Khaled Mansour told the daily briefing in Amman, Jordan, on UN humanitarian activities. Food aid has been moving into northern Iraq through Turkey for nearly two weeks, but Aqaba in Jordan is expected to become a key port of entry for food for central and southern Iraq, he said.

"WFP's efforts to get aid into Iraq are picking up momentum just in time. Most of the population could start running out of food in a couple of weeks," said James Morris, WFP executive director, said in a statement. To date, WFP has received no reports of extreme food shortages, but it expects the majority of Iraq's 27.1 million population to exhaust their food reserves by early May.

"Our goal is to make sure that the Iraqi population, 60 percent of whom are entirely dependent on monthly food handouts, will get their regular rations as of May," Morris said.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) spoke Thursday with the local head of its Baghdad office, Hatim George, and quoted him as calling the situation "horrible."

Special operations soldiers patrol west Baghdad to provide security for a local hospital. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Lock courtesy U.S. Air Force)

UNICEF is attempting to hire trucks and drivers to collect refuse in the worst hit areas, spokesman Geoffrey Keele said. The greatest need of hospitals right now, besides power and clean water, is liquid oxygen, without which operations could not be conducted, he said.

Keele said that before the war, UNICEF had contracted teams of mobile units to ensure that generators at water treatment plants were repaired and maintained, and three of these teams worked throughout the bombing, fighting, looting and chaos. "They travelled across the city repairing and maintaining generators, and even assisted some hospitals with their generators to make sure that at least a limited amount of power was available for the city's vital infrastructure," he said. "We applaud their courage and dedication."

Briefing reporters at the U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar on Thursday, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said that power has been restored in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, important because the power in Kirkuk will restore function to a natural gas complex that is also located there.

"Once the gas complex is restored to 100 percent capability, the natural gas can then be pumped from Kirkuk to Mosul, where a gas operated power plant is currently down," the general explained. "The gas operated power station will then be able to provide stable electric power that's needed to run the Mosul hydroelectric station at the Mosul Dam to the northwest of Mosul - formerly known as the Saddam Dam."

Once power is restored there, the water distribution system in Mosul can be restored, and the power lines that run from Mosul south to Baiji can be activated, General Brooks said. Then enough energy will flow through the Baiji substation to push power to Baghdad and Tikrit.

At the same time, the Baghdad South power plant will run on a temporary supply of oil until an uninterrupted supply of both power and oil can be provided.

In Baghdad, said General Brooks today, six diesel operated plants are online and generating power, and the south Baghdad power plant has resumed operations.