KUWAIT CITY, July 23: Director of Kuwait Zoo, Farida Mulla Ahmed, has denied the allegations made by PETA Asia Director, Jason Baker, last Friday saying that she believes that Baker has based his opinions and concerns only through a particular article published a month ago that is full of unfounded remarks.
Referring to an article written by Fahed Al-Mayah of Al-Rai newspaper on June 21, Mulla Ahmed said that the way the article was written was unprofessional and biased. “The writer claimed that there isn’t any air conditioning in the indoor animal enclosures and that they are dying due to the summer power cuts, which is untrue,” she said.

Farida Mulla Ahmed, Director of the Kuwait zoo.

In an interview with the Arab Times, Mulla Ahmed added that she had personally requested the Ministry of Electricity and Water not make electricity cuts in the zoo. “Even if our power gets cut, we immediately respond and take care of the situation to make sure all the animals are alright.”
“Even though the zoo is undersized and our enclosures are considered small for the amount of animals, we have renovated plenty of enclosures and many animals have successfully bred. Our doors are wide open and everyone is welcome to come and see what we are doing themselves,” she said.
Speaking to the Arab Times, Wildlife Consultant, Dr Mostafa Mahmoud, also said that the article was not fair and was full of mistakes. “I have commented on the PETA website inviting any animals’ rights activist or organization to visit us and share their opinion and discuss any problems.”

Jamal Al-Jeean feeding the elephants.

According to the Director and the Consultant, a similar incident occurred last year when writer for zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com, Peter Dickinson, made offensive remakes about Kuwait Zoo based on “wrongly interpreted assumptions”. He subsequently apologized in another post.
“To be honest, there isn’t one animal activist or one animal rights organization that has come to the zoo’s management and provided their views or criticisms about an issue to allow us to review their considerations and work on finding solutions,” he said.
He added that he has never encountered any credible animal rights organization that has accused a zoo of neglect without actually visiting the concerned zoo. The management does not mind receiving constructive criticism from visitors and human rights organizations.
Regarding the renovation plans of the Kuwait Zoo, Dr. Mahmoud said the Kuwait Zoo began renovating and taking a new form since four years ago under the new director, Farida Mulla Ahmed.
“There was an extensive agricultural plan and we have succeeded in adding plenty of vegetation in a lot of cages and enclosures thanks to the hard working and professional staff. As a result, endangered animals and birds, such as the Macaw and the Arabian Oryx, have successfully reproduced. We are also cooperating with Protection of Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and the European and US Association for Zoo and Aquarium among other organizations,” he said.
Dr Mahmoud added the previous director, Nabila Al-Ali, who is now the Deputy Director of the zoo was the one who put in place the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2003 and made it the zoo’s responsibility.
“When Farida became the director, she built on Nabila’s efforts. It is impossible for only one person during his/her time in a job to accomplish everything. Also, as non-profit organizations, any zoo in the world has more expenses than the profit; they pay for salaries and food so most of them rely on donations. Even zoos in London rely on donations,” he said.
On her part, Mulla Ahmed said that the budget and staff during the previous management was very poor and they were unable to do much. But now as the previous director is now a deputy director she is taking on plenty of initiatives in order to improve the zoo.

Flamingos at their recently vegetated enclosure.

Kuwait Zoo is a government organization and they are pushing to get a larger budget but they are focusing on donations from public authorities and people.
Mulla Ahmed praised the efforts of the zoo’s staff. “Due to their hard work, diligence and donations, the Zoo was able to improve drastically. It was a unified and internal effort by everyone involved.”
“I urge everyone who is concerned about the animals and the standards of the zoo to come pay us a visit. They will feel the difference between how we were four years ago and now. We are changing all the cages. Of course we can’t compare to certain other countries but we are doing our best,” she concluded.
Animal Welfare

The zoo’s staff members are professional and are dedicated to their jobs said Head of Enrichment and Landscaping, Meshary Al-Khalid, as he and his colleague, Jamal Al-Jeean, who is Head of the Herbicide Department, were giving the Arab Times a tour of the zoo.
“Some staff members have been working here for nearly 20 years and most of the plants that were put in the enclosures and the green house were donated by the staff themselves. We have donated more than 60 breeds of plants,” commented Al-Khalid. He and Al-Jeean are both Vet Assistants working for the zoo and Al-Khalid also takes care of the young parrots at the hatchery.
Kuwait Zoo currently has 1,950 animals, 363 species. According to Al-Khalid and Al-Jeean, animals and birds have started to successfully breed because their territories have been renovated and formed. “We have three Ashi-headed Goose and four Black-neck Swans and they have successfully laid eggs for the first time this year. We do not bring animals to the zoo until we ready their environment,” said Al-Khalid.
The Arabian Wolf’s cage has been re-done and vegetated and four Cheetahs and four Hyenas were moved to a larger enclosure. The successful breeding includes Giraffes, Red Dear, Hippos, Parrots, Macaws, Crown Cranes, Ringtail Lemurs. There are big cats available who currently live in small enclosures, but Al-Khalid assured that the zoo is doing all it can do to better their situation. However, things develop more slowly in Kuwait.

“Each indoor enclosure has an air-conditioning system. When we renovate an enclosure, we move the animals to other sanctuaries,” commented Al-Khalid.
Both animal activists said that they are affected by the behavior of the people and their lack of awareness. They said that when visitors come to zoo, they disrespect the animals, throw things at them and try to feed them. Therefore, wide enclosures have been built between the outside area and the animals’ cages and filled with plants such as cactuses to prevent the visitors from reaching the animals.
“I have not ruled out building electric barbed-wire fences,” Al-Khalid jokingly said.
Regarding the recent accusations against the zoo, Al-Khalid added that every zoo has deaths due to old age, various illness and the different seasons. However, deaths at the Kuwait Zoo are very minimum and, recently, there are more births than usual.
“Reproduction means that the animal is happy with its living. Our hatchery has recently witnessed six successful hatchings and some of them were Cockatoo, which rarely breeds in captivity,” he concluded.