The amazing story of the soldiers, conservationists, and ordinary Iraqis who united to save the animals of the Baghdad Zoo.

When  the Iraq war began,   conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, located in the city center and caught in the war's crossfire.  Once Anthony  entered Baghdad he  discovered  that full-scale combat  and uncontrolled looting had killed nearly all the animals of the zoo. But not all of them. U.S. soldiers  had taken  the time to help  care for the remaining animals, and the  zoo's staff had returned to work in spite of the  constant firefights. Together the  Americans and Iraqis had managed to keep  alive the animals that had survived the invasion. Babylon's Ark chronicles the zoo's  transformation  from bombed-out rubble to peaceful park. Along the way, Anthony recounts hair-raising efforts to save  a pride of the dictator's lions,   close  a deplorable black-market zoo, and  rescue Saddam's Arabian horses.  His unique ground-level  experience makes  Babylon's Ark an uplifting story of  both sides working together for the sake of innocent animals caught in the war's crossfire.

* Terrific tale about how Iraqis, a South African conservationist and American soldiers saved the animals of the Baghdad Zoo.... A wartime story with a joyful ending. .... Kirkus Reviews