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Father of Lions: One Man’s Remarkable Quest to Save the Mosul Zoo
Maybe someday
49
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
58/100Critics
40/100Scholars
Author:
Louise Callaghan
Publisher:
Forge Books
Date:
January 14, 2020
When Mosul, Iraqâs second largest city, fell to ISIS, the ongoing fighting between militants and government forces decimated most of Mosulâs attractions. The small zoo remained open, but as the violence continued the animals began to starve. Abu Laith, âfather of lions,â was an animal lover and self-taught zoologist and zookeeper, and as conditions got worse he and his family began to scrounge as much food for the animals as they could find.
What The Reviewers Say
Callaghan pieces together the three-year occupation of Mosul remarkably well through the interlinked stories of the irrepressible Abu Laith.
... a true page-turner.
The horror of the zoo’s residents, caught in their cages and slowly starving, is well rendered by journalist Callaghan, as is Abu Laith’s resiliency and determination.
Marwan, the young assistant, and Abu Laith went to enormous measures to try to keep the animals fed as well as safe from visitors, efforts that the author narrates capably. In brisk chapters that move back and forth among her protagonists, Callaghan also tells the story of Hakam Zarari, a former government scientist, and his family, who were horrified by the brutal methods of IS.
