Baghdad zoo

The Baghdad Zoo is a 200-acre (81 ha) zoo originally opened in 1971 and located in Baghdad, Iraq, in the al-Zawraa' Gardens area along with the Zawraa Amusement Park and Zawraa' 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 1070 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...