Baghdad Zoo
| Date opened | 1971-2002; Since 2003 |
|---|---|
| Location | Baghdad, Iraq |
| Coordinates | 33°18′53″N 44°22′35″E / 33.314845°N 44.376417°ECoordinates: 33°18′53″N 44°22′35″E / 33.314845°N 44.376417°E |
| Land area | 200 acres (81 ha) |
| No. of animals | 1070 (2009) |
| Annual visitors | 1,500,000 (2001) 120,000 (2007) 2,000,000 (2009) |
| Website | www |
The Baghdad Zoo is a 200-acre (81 ha) zoo originally opened in 1971 and located in Baghdad, Iraq, in the Al Zawra’a Gardens area along with the Al Zawra’a Dream Park (amusement park) and Zawra'a Tower. Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the zoo housed 650 animals. After being decimated during the 2003 Iraqi war, when only about 35 animals survived, the zoo was reopened in 2003 and now houses about 1,070 animals.
The Baghdad Zoo was built in 1971 under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.
The facilities were insufficient, with small confinement spaces considered inhumane. After the first Gulf War, Iraq's zoos suffered from the United Nations Iraq sanctions, limited particular foods, medicines, and vaccines.
Saddam Hussein closed the zoo for renovations in the spring of 2002.
The zoo was destroyed during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For their own safety, zoo workers suspended feeding the animals in early April 2003, when Fedayeen Saddam troops took up defensive positions around the zoo as U.S. forces began the battle of Baghdad. Out of the original 650 to 700 animals in the Baghdad Zoo only 35 had survived to the eighth day of the invasion, and these tended to be some of the larger animals.
During the absence of zoo staff and officials, the zoo suffered from severe looting. Cages were torn open by thieves who released or took hundreds of animals and birds. Zoo staff said most of the birds and game animals were taken for food as pre-war food shortages in Baghdad were exacerbated by the invasion.
Many animals were found roaming the zoo grounds. The remaining animals were found in critical condition, dying of thirst and starving in their cages, including Mandor, a 20-year-old Siberian tiger that was the personal property of Uday Hussein, and Saida, a blind brown bear.
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