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Kabul's One-Eyed Lion Dies
Saturday, January 26, 2002
(12:10 PM ET) (17:10 GMT)
The Associated Press

Tuesday, November 20, 2001: Marjan the lion, who lost an eye in a grenade blast, sits in his quarters Monday. While zoo staff work without pay, Marjan continues to get meat for the animal on credit from a local butcher.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

Walsh called Marjan a symbol of Afghanistan's travails and spirit. "Even though blind, he was a tough, brave old guy," said John Walsh, international projects director of the World Society for the Protection of Animals. “I consider myself a pretty rough guy, but I cried.”

KABUL, Afghanistan -- AP
Marjan the one-eyed lion, the most famous of the war-battered beasts at the Kabul Zoo, died just as international help had begun pouring in to ease the animals' plight, an official leading the aid efforts said Saturday.

Marjan, believed to be around 25, probably died of kidney and liver failure connected to old age, said John Walsh, international projects director of the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

The lion had a hard life. In the 1990s, an Afghan guerrilla showing off for his friends jumped over the guardrail into Marjan's den, and the lion killed him. The next day, the dead man's vengeful brother threw a grenade into the cage, and the explosion took out Marjan's eye.

Marjan, the one-eyed lion of the Kabul Zoo, dead at 25.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

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2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan