The lioness in Kabul Zoo, long a symbol of hope in Afghanistan's capital devastated by years of fighting, has become pregnant, the zoo director said Thursday.
"She is due to give birth in four or five months. This is the first birth we have had in the zoo for seven years," said director Abdul Razziq.Her mate won't be able to witness the event, however - he was blinded in a grenade attack in early 1995.
For three years after the collapse of the Communist regime in Kabul in 1992 the zoo was on the front line. Keepers used to crawl along trenches into the zoo to feed its diminishing population.
The zoo's continued existence during the fighting is a symbol of hope for the future for the city's population - a small survivor of past normality in a sea of destruction.
"During the fighting most of the animals were killed or taken away. The cages were destroyed, as was our collection of stuffed animals," Razziq said.
Many animals became victims of the crossfire. The elephant was killed with a rocket-propelled grenade in 1994 and a black bear, which still limps disconsolately around the cracked concrete of its pen, was wounded by rocket shrapnel.
Kabulis again started to visit the zoo after the front line moved away in 1995. The male lion was blinded in a revenge grenade attack after a young fighter who climbed into the lions compound was mauled to death.
There have since been attempts at a limited rehabilitation of the zoo.
It has acquired some monkeys, wolves and a vulture with a broken wing, and Razziq said they hoped to buy two tigers that have been captured in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman.
But as Razziq readily admitted, conditions are far from perfect.
"The main problems are a lack of money and the inconvenience of the cages for the animals. Some international aid agencies have said that they will help with rehabilitating the pens, but nothing has come of it," he said.
One problem they are unlikely to have is security. The two turbanned Taleban fighters collecting the admission fee were both armed with automatic rifles.
Kabul is now ruled by the Taleban, who took over in September last year.
But they are still fighting rival factions - including the government it dislodged - for the 25 percent of Afghanistan they do not control.