Early history 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 North Carolina–based
Conservators' Center, an exotic-wildlife conservation and preservation center, offered to donate two mix-breed tiger cubs to the Baghdad Zoo. After considerable legal and bureaucratic hurdles the tigers were delivered to the zoo on August 4, 2008. They were a male, Riley, and a female, Hope. In 2009, three wild boars at the zoo were euthanized due to fears that they could get infected with the
A/H1N1 flu virus (Swine flu).
Recovery In 2008, the zoo had grown to about 800 animals, though most of these were birds. The only large animals at the zoo were two female lions left from the 22 original lions before the invasion. On August 4, 2008, the zoo received two tiger cubs (Hope and Riley) from the Mebane, North Carolina–based Conservators' Center, an exotic-wildlife conservation and preservation center. By 2009, the zoo reported that they had about 1070 animals. To keep visitors safe, Zawraa Park, in which the zoo is located, is guarded by the special police units that guard other government facilities. Visitors are frisked and bags and baskets are checked for explosives. Although numbers cannot be verified, the director general of parks and gardens, Salah Abu al-Lail, expected close to 8 million visitors to the park in 2009. ==Botany==