Zookeeping under ISIS: Meet the Father of Lions

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The Times

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4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We take a break from social distancing and life in lockdown to bring you an extraordinary story from Iraq. The Sunday Times' Louise Callaghan tells Manveen the tale of Abu Laith- the zookeeper of Mosul, and the man who kept a lion alive through mortar fire and raids by ISIS.

Guest:

Louise Callaghan, Sunday Times Middle East correspondent

Host:

Manveen Rana

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today we have a story which is a long way from life in lockdown, an extraordinary
0:06.4	tale from Iraq. It's a story of a zookeeper, one of the very few in the
0:11.0	region, called Ab Abu Laith.
0:13.4	Abu Laith always loved animals.
0:14.9	He always felt that animals understood him.
0:17.5	His house was right next door to the zoo.
0:19.6	So he'd climb up on the roof and spy on all the animals
0:21.9	to make sure they were okay.
0:23.2	He arranged the evacuation of the zoo in Mosul in 2017 as he wanted to defend zombie,
0:29.5	his lion cub and Lula, a bear from ISIS.
0:36.0	And then these three figures come running at him out of the distance.
0:39.0	You know, he was terrified, he thought they were ISIS fighters that were going to kill him.
0:42.0	But at what cost?
0:43.6	His face was sort of sunken and purple.
0:46.0	He looked really, really sick and very thin.
0:49.2	This is stories of our times, from the Times and the Sunday Times. I'm Manveen Rana. Today, the Father of Lions. May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride
1:17.4	so you don't have to walk home in the rain again.
1:20.0	Trains, now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check on Uber.
1:23.4	T's and C's apply.
1:24.4	Check the Uber app.
1:25.4	My name is Louise Callahan.
1:30.4	I am the Middle East correspondent for the Sunday Times.
	...

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