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    Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
    Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
    Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
    Audiobook8 hours

    Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo

    Written by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence

    Narrated by Simon Vance

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    About this audiobook

    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, Anthony 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 26, 2015
    ISBN9781494577988
    Author

    Lawrence Anthony

    Lawrence Anthony was a highly-respected conservationist and co-founder of The Earth Organization, an international environmental group. He is the author of The Elephant Whisperer, about his time with a herd of 'rogue' elephants, and Babylon's Ark, about his involvement in saving the animals in Baghdad Zoo, and The Last Rhinos, detailing his involvement in rescuing the remaining Northern White Rhinos in the Congo. He sadly died in 2012.

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    Reviews for Babylon's Ark

    4/5

    74 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fantastic audio, incredible story. I love this author and all he has done to help so many wild animals. This tale is right up there with the best.
    • 4/5
      Audiobook read by Simon Vance4**** Subtitle: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad ZooLawrence Anthony was a well-known conservationist and advocate for animals, running a game reserve (Thula Thula) in South Africa when images on CNN of the war in Baghdad caught his attention. He was horrified at the potential loss of wildlife at that war-ravaged city’s zoo, and knew he had to somehow go help. And so, against all odds, he did. This is the story of his work there.It’s quite the adventure. From just getting into the war zone (the zoo being in the middle of the action), to dealing with the continued looting, to begging for supplies and then for security everything was a challenge and a half. He paid staff out of his own pockets, and scrounged food for them and their families so that the precious supplies at the zoo could be allocated to keeping the animals there alive. And then he discovered the many “private” zoos … from Sadam’s son, Uday, and other wealthy owners he rescued many mismanaged and starving animals. His was truly a labor of love, and one hopes that his efforts have continued to pay dividends in better treatment, more habitat-enhanced enclosures, and a renewed local pride in this marvelous resource for both education and amusement.Simon Vance does a fine job narrating the audio. He’s narrated Anthony’s other books as well, and I really enjoy the way he reads them.
    • 4/5
      4.25 starsIn 2003, during the war in Iraq, a few hundred animals were abandoned in their cages, unable to fend for themselves, in the Baghdad Zoo. When Lawrence Anthony, conservationist and owner of the Thula Thula animal sanctuary in South Africa saw this on tv, he knew he had to help. He worked as fast as he could to organize everything to be allowed in to Baghdad at this time. He was one of the only foreign civilians allowed in at this time, while war still went on around the city. The zoo had been looted, and most of the animals, by now, had been stolen, either for food or to sell on the black market. The ones that remained were not in good shape. This tells of Lawrence Anthony’s efforts to round others up and to help the remaining animals. This one pulled me in from the start. Those poor animals. What a nightmare of a time, trying to fix everything up, get water and food for the animals (and the zoo staff who came back to help out – they needed food, too!), trying to keep looters from continually coming back, etc. With gunfire happening here and there all around. Really good book.
    • 4/5
      Incredible story about what was happening on the ground in Irag at the beginning of the Iraq war.
    • 4/5
      Having read Anthony's other two books I knew this would be very good. The combination of Anthony, Spence and Simon Vance (narrator) is uniquely good. My regret is knowing there will be no more books, as Anthony died a few years ago. Too soon.This is probably one of the better books about the Iraq War ca. 2003 as it deals not only with saving the zoo animals but the mood and atmosphere of Baghdad in the days immediately after invasion from a non-American, non-Iraqi, non-participant. Anthony became a minor celebrity among Americans and Iraqi's alike due his noble mission and spirit, and that brought focus to rebuilding the zoo as one of the early reconstruction efforts. Thanks to American tax pay dollars for destroying and rebuilding. My only regret is the book doesn't have an update on what happened to the zoo in the years after 2003. The Wikipedia article about the zoo mentions not many big animals are left mostly birds. What happened to the lion cubs and the dogs? The old bear? The Arabian horses? And what happened to the zoo director? Many unanswered questions. Regardless a wonderful book and something rarely covered well, animals in war (besides dogs).
    • 5/5
      This was an excellent book. It grabs you right from the beginning and doesn't let go. Lawrence Anthony tells of his amazing journey to Baghdad to rescue the zoo that had been decimated by war. What he describes is truly heartbreaking, but with an indomitable spirit and the support of others who shared his vision, the zoo flourished and can now be enjoyed by the Iraqi people.This is truly one of the best stories to come from the war in Iraq. A riveting read!
    • 4/5
      I learned recently that Lawrence Anthony died in March. I didn't know anything about him until I read this book, and even then, my knowledge was limited. Of course, it takes his death to learn more about him and find out that he was a respected leader for African wildlife conservation.I'd seen this book at my library many times and finally decided to check it out due to some zoo research I've been doing. It was a very quick and engaging read. The story is about how Anthony found out about the plight of the animals at the Baghdad Zoo during the Iraq invasion and decided that he had to go and help out at any cost.To say the book is eye-opening is probably an understatement. Not only do you get to witness the utter devastation at the Baghdad Zoo, but you also get to experience life in a war zone. It's no picnic, in case you were unsure. However, the dedication of Anthony, along with the perseverence of the Baghdad Zoo caretakers, and even the care and aid of the soldiers in the area was something fantastic to read about.The book moved me to anger, to tears, and sometimes even (the faintest, tiniest bit of) hope. No matter what you feel about war, I think this is a good read for animal lovers and people interested in zoos.
    • 5/5
      His story of coming to the aid of the zoo was amazing. In my opinion, the save the earth speech at the end of the book went on for too long and distracted from the story, but for all he did to save these and other animals, I couldn't fault him for it.
    • 4/5
      Thinking about the rescue of a zoo in Iraq seems like a straightforward effort. That is proven a very naive view after reading this account of one man's dedication to this monumental job. The dire circumstances of finding basic food and water mixed with the uncertain political ramifications of each step of each person involved provides the reader with a comprehensive view of how something like a few remaining animals can provide hope and challenges in abundance in a time of chaos and flux. An eye opener for this reader. The last section is fairly preachy but the rest of the book makes that easy to forgive.
    • 5/5
      This is a beautiful, touching, and surprisingly humorous book about one man's struggle to "draw a line in the sand". It left me speechless. Anthony's journey from Africa to Baghdad is a self-adopted mission to save however many animals he can, as well as the zoo which was known as the most diverse collection of animals in the middle east. His mission extends to those animals that Saddam kept as pets (including lions, horses, ostriches, etc.), and becomes one of community building between Americans and Iraqis as well. Against all odds, and with the help of many Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, he succeeds beyond anyone's expectations to the extent that his journey is at times difficult to believe. In the end, the book is both touchiing and inspirational, well worth the read for anyone who loves animals or has an interest in either stories coming out of Iraq or Humanitarian action, because in the end this is a book about working for the good of humanity just so much as it is a book about the rescue of animals. There were countless times when I had to put the book down to share a humorous anecdote about animals (and sometimes people as well) with my mom and fiance while we were all on vacation. After all that? My mom has the book now, and my fiance is next in line.As a side note, while there is some graphic description here, and a few passages that are difficult to take for animal lovers like myself and my family, Anthony gives no more information and description than is necessary to let reader's know the situation he finds animals in, and in the end, there really wasn't much graphic content or violence considering the environment and subject-matter of the book. The second chapter is most difficult to take, however necessary, but readers should know that once they've passed that point, they've passed the most difficult portions of the book at large. I would have no hesitation about recommending this book or passing it on to animal lovers; it is absolutely worth the read, just so much as you'd pass along the stories of James Herriot to a fellow animal-watcher/lover. And, as surprising as it may seem, I guarantee it will make you smile many times, if not laugh out loud, and you'll certainly be sharing anecdotes from the book if you've got anyone around you to listen. Highly highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful book that told a sad but good story for people to hear. We need to realize what we as humans are causing animals to suffer through, animals who have no control over the situations we put them in.
    • 4/5
      This really is an incredible story! The odds Anthony faced when he left his home on a wildlife preserve South Africa to get to the war-torn Baghdad Zoo were amazing. He is without a doubt a hero!