Uday Hussein's lions to be taken back to Africa

JOHANNESBURG, May 23 (Reuters) - Lions once kept in a private zoo by the son of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will be moved out of Baghdad to start a new life in the South African bush, animal welfare groups said on Friday.

The animals, a lioness and her six cubs and two year-old lions, will be relocated to two different South African game reserves in the hope they will form new prides.

"Lions never lose their instinct to hunt. But they have to get fit first," said Louise Joubert, founder of the SanWild Wildlife Trust.

"Any animal would be traumatised by what happened in Baghdad. But what better way for them to recuperate from trauma than in the wild bush."

U.S. troops in April rescued the lions, along with two cheetahs and a blind bear, from a private zoo that Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, had established in one of Baghdad's presidential palaces.

Uday, known for his love of fierce animals, fast cars and beautiful women, has owned several lions, tigers and cheetahs, some of them gifts from friendly foreign governments.

Like his father, Uday disappeared during the U.S.-led invasion. But the plight of Uday's menagerie has continued to concern animal welfare groups, which have also sought to restore Baghdad's main zoo after it was looted in the mayhem after Saddam's rule collapsed.

Barbara Maas, chief executive of the British-based charity Care for the Wild International, said she persuaded zoo officials and U.S. military authorities to approve relocation of the animals after a recent trip to Baghdad.

Even though Uday's pets had been moved to Baghdad's main zoo, the conditions were there still dire, she said.

"I have never seen anything like it. There were flies everywhere," Maas said in a telephone interview. "Nearly all the infrastructure has been stripped out, everything from fuse boxes to door handles."

The lions are expected to arrive in South Africa as early as next month, while the bear will be sent to a reserve in Greece, she said. The cheetahs -- nearly tame -- will stay in Baghdad.

Joubert said the lions would start at SanWild, a sanctuary in northern Limpopo province which has already re-introduced two captive lions to the wild. The lioness and her cubs will later be relocated to Ngome Community Game Reserve in southern Kwazulu-Natal province.

Maas said hopes were high the lions would quickly adapt to conditions in the bush. "In Uday's palace they were occasionally fed with live prey -- goats and sheep -- so it is possible they already know how to kill," she said.

"In Uday's palace they were occasionally fed with live prey -- goats and sheep -- so it is possible they already know how to kill,"

When I first read the headline, the first thing I thought of was "How many political prisoners were fed to the lions?" Maybe none, but you HAVE to wonder!

I agree. I personally believe these animals should be euthanized. I just don't think it's a wise move to transport these animals to a sanctuary visited by tourists when live PEOPLE have been fed to them by Uday for fun.

3 posted on 05/24/2003 5:47:04 PM PDT by cgk (It is liberal dogma that human life is an accident - Linda Bowles (r.i.p.))

Of course I don't know this to be true, or even rumored, but considering the savagery of Uday, I would think that at some point he was brutal enough to have fed live political prisoners, or their children, to the lions. I had read that one of the Hussein's was upset with someone once, and starved some dobermans for about a week. Then the unfortunate victim was put in the room with the dogs and was torn apart. It is only logical that if people were fed to dogs that they would have been also fed to lions.

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