Babylon's Ark

Babylon's Ark, The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo is a book written by South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony along with author Graham Spence. The book tells of the rescue of the Baghdad zoo, during the US lead Coalition invasion of Iraq.

From the Publisher

When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, caught in the crossfire at the heart of the city. Once Anthony entered Iraq he discovered that hostilities and uncontrolled looting had devastated the zoo and its animals. Working with members of the zoo staff and a few compassionate U.S. soldiers, he defended the zoo, bartered for food on war-torn streets, and scoured bombed palaces for desperately needed supplies. "Babylon's Ark" chronicles Anthony's hair-raising efforts to save a pride of Saddam's lions, close a deplorable black-market zoo, run ostriches through shoot-to-kill checkpoints, and rescue the dictator's personal herd of Thoroughbred Arabian horses. A tale of the selfless courage and humanity of a few men and women living dangerously for all the right reasons, "Babylon's Ark" is an inspiring and uplifting true-life adventure of individuals on both sides working together for the sake of magnificent wildlife caught in a war zone.

Literary criticism

Prior to launch Babylon's Ark received starred literary reviews in the United States, from both Booklist and Kirkus Reviews denoting "a book of remarkable merit."

The book “Babylon’s Ark”, was first picked up on by Paraview Literary Agency and was then adopted, published and released by St. Martin's Press of New York in early March 2007. Babylons Ark was launched in the US by all major retail and online outlets including: Barnes & Noble, Borders Group, Walmart and was also listed by Amazon.com in their top 12 recommended reads category.

American Library Association, [http://www.ala.org/ala/booklist/booklist.htm] Booklist "Editors Choice" - Adult Books for Young Adults.

Plot summary

The book focusses on how in early 2003, during the American led invasion of Iraq, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, realizing there would be no one looking after the Baghdad zoo, the biggest zoo in the Middle East, left his Thula Thula Game Reserve home in Zululand South Africa for war blockaded Kuwait.

Anthony somehow wrangled his way into becoming the first civilian, media excepted, to gain military access to Iraq and then quite unbelievably, drove his hired car (from Kuwait) unarmed and unescorted, right into the violent heart of Baghdad itself, truly the last place on Earth any unarmed foreigner would want to be.

On his arrival Anthony found that a battle had been fought in the surrounding park and that the zoo had been damaged and severely looted. Hundreds of animals and birds had died, escaped or had been stolen for food. Zoo veterinarian Dr Husham Hussan and two brave zoo staff, coming to work when they could, met him and the rescue commenced.

Anthony recounts his many adventures. He tells of how he found himself a bed with the fighting troops and tank crews of the US 3rd Infantry Division in the derelict Al-Rashid Hotel, made friends with Government officials, allied individual soldiers and rallied foreign mercenaries to his cause. How he raided bombed palaces and ruined hotels for food and supplies to keep the animals and staff fed, and rescued Lions, Cheetah's and Ostriches from Uday Hussein's palace.

Brendan Whittington-Jones, Lawrence's Thula Thula game reserve manager, arrives to assist, and together with US Capt. William Sumner, the courageous Zoo Directors Dr Adel Mousa and Dr Husham Hussan, Iraqi veterinarian Farah Murrani, and a few loyal zoo staff, they formed an intrepid team which secured the zoo and somehow kept the remaining animals alive and the zoo safe in some extreme circumstances. Confronted by an appalling situation, cut off from the world and completely surrounded by fighting and looting, the team overcame every "cant be done," to hold together the remains of what was once the biggest zoo in the Middle East literally out of nothing. At various times they are assisted by other conservation organizations including AZA, Wildaid, Care for the Wild, and IFAW.

As the fighting eases, the team is able to get around the city with help from the military and rescue starving and abused animals from other facilities in Baghdad and bring them back to the zoo for safekeeping.

News of the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein’s magnificent personal herd of thoroughbred Arabian horses, stolen during the invasion, arrives at the zoo and in an adventurous raid, led by Capt William Sumner and Capt Gavino Rivas with Whittington-Jones and Murrani assisting, seventeen horses are recovered and returned to the Iraqi people.

Later the US Army sent in Army engineers who overhauled and upgraded the infrastructure of the Zoo and surrounding Park. The zoo and park were reopened to the public on July 19th, 2003.

On September 17th 2003, the day after Anthony returned home to South Africa an American soldier who had reportedly been drinking attempted to feed the zoos prize Bengal Tiger Malooh through the enclosure bars and was bitten on the hand after which his companion shot the Tiger still in its cage with a pistol and it bled to death overnight.

Book Conclusion

At its conclusion, the book gives a sobering summary of the dwindling spiral of life on Earth as a result of the deterioration of the Plant and Animal kingdoms and the planet's environment. Lawrence speaks of how the rescue inspired the formation of The Earth Organization, a grass roots international non-profit, conservation and environment organization, with new solutions, committed to the creative responsible rehabilitation of Planet Earth and the plant and animal kingdoms.

Anthony is busy writing his second book, The Herd, which tells the story of his relationship with the African elephant, which is lightly focussed on in "Babylon's Ark".

Film

The movie rights have been acquired by a major Hollywood production company. Fact|date=September 2007

External links

* [http://www.earthorganization.org The Earth Organization]
* [http://www.lawrenceanthony.co.za Lawrence Anthony's official website]
* [http://www.paraview.com/ Paraview Literary Agency]
* [http://www.stmartins.com/ St. Martins Press]
* [http://www.thulathula.com/ Thula Thula Game Reserve in South Africa]
* [http://www.nikbarratt.com/ Thula Thula Game Reserve Photos]