Muammar Gaddafi’s ‘other’ victims

posted at 12:25 pm on October 6, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Repression ]   

When he was ousted from power after ruling Libya with an iron fist for 41 years, dictator Muammar Gaddafi left behind more than an oppressed and starving human population in his tyrannical wake. He also left behind a menagerie of sick and dying animals, Reuters reports.

Among the volunteers attempting to rescue one of the thousands of ostriches the dictator consigned to a cruel death in the harsh desert conditions is a rebel commander by the name of Abu Bakr Essa. He is quoted as saying:

Gaddafi didn’t care for people; he killed them with tanks. How can you expect him to care about his animals?

The sprawling wildlife reserve that Gaddafi once maintained chiefly as an attraction for guests covers hundreds of square miles, all of them filled with creatures desperately in need of medical attention. There are vast herds of rare-breed camels, hybrid cattle, sheep, and goats.

An aging veterinarian named Belgasem Al Sosi is now struggling against odds to provide the needed treatment. He is quoted as lamenting:

Gaddafi left it [the reserve] and went. They [Gaddafi's forces] left the animals with no food and no water.

Sosi reports that at least 100 ostriches have died since the farm was abandoned in August. Several of the birds were found collapsed in one sweltering pen, either dead and rotting or too weak to stand.

He has administered injections of antibiotics and vitamins to those still living in the slim hope that they can recover under the care of volunteers.

To add to the animals’ misery, a humanitarian crisis marked by shortages of food, water, and fuel have prompted some hungry civilians to shoot the birds.

“We tell the people not to steal them,” Al Siddeiq Al Fitory, a resident of Misrata is quoted as saying.

In recent weeks, fighters from Misrata have brought in feed, including bales of hay and sacks of grain for the surviving birds, which they are also attempting to secure.

Says Mohamad Al Majdoub of the menagerie:

We have to protect it. They [the animals] are part of Libya’s patrimony. They are part of our future.

Related Articles

• WH: Air strikes on Libya are “kinetic military action,” not war
• Libyan ex-minister: Gaddafi personally ordered Lockerbie bombing
• Gaddafi’s goons open fire on mourners at protesters’ funeral, kill 15
• Gaddafi calls for popular uprising–against Israel

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