Tigers are a good thing

Newsweek has the article:

"The Baghdad zoo was looted and animals were stolen for food and profit, while others were left to starve in their cages, during the initial invasion in April of 2003. Then, in December of 2003, a group of American soldiers were having a barbecue at the zoo when one of them went between the outer and inner cages of the tiger enclosure and the Bengal tiger inside grabbed him through the bars, pulled him close, and ripped his arm to pieces. Another American soldier shot the tiger. It died of internal bleeding. When the Army investigated, it discovered that the injured soldier had been drinking beer— against Army regulations— and that the soldier who killed the tiger had used an illegal sidearm, which he'd confiscated from an Iraqi. The resulting headlines were predictable: Drunken soldiers kill Baghdad's last tiger, and became proof of American irresponsibility in Iraq."

The good news?

The North Carolina-based Conservators' Center, an exotic-wildlife sanctuary, offered to donate two tigers to the Baghdad Zoo. The American Embassy and the US military went to great efforts to make it happen. Lt. Colonel Robert Sindler, an Army veterinarian, organized a $125,000 grant to get the tigers there, but one roadblock after another emerged. The US Fish & Wildlife Service was dubious, and had to give export permission. Animal activist Kim Basinger objected to sending the tigers to a war zone. Transporting them on military aircraft presented special problems, and by last month Sindler was despairing of arranging it in time, even after he agreed to extend his own tour by a month to work on it. Finally, he met with Ambassador Ryan Crocker at the embassy's July 4th barbecue, and Crocker agreed that the embassy would pony up the $66,000 it would cost to simply have the animals sent in by DHL. Crocker also took a personal interest in the case, helping to cut through all the red tape. Finally the tigers arrived by air and were brought in from Baghdad International Airport in a military convoy on August 4th."

Rico says the good guys win, every once in awhile...