When the Iraq War began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, located in the city centre and caught in the cross  fire. His worst fears were confirmed when he entered the city and discovered that full-scale combat and uncontrolled looting had killed many if the animals.

But not all of them. Even during the heat of the battle, individual US soldiers had taken the time off fighting to help care for the remaining animals, and a few of the zoo’s staff had returned to work in spite of the constant firefights.

Babylon’s Ark chronicles the heroic efforts of Anthony, caring soldiers and the few Iraqi helpers who despite almost impossible odds saved the animals and the zoo itself.

Along the way Anthony recounts hair-raising efforts to rescue a pride of Uday Hussein’s lions, close a barbaric black-market zoo and rescue dictator Saddam Hussein’s Arabian horses from a hidden stable in Abu Ghraib, near the notorious jail where prisoners had been tortured

Anthony’s unique ground-level experience make Babylon’s Ark an eye-opening and heart-warming story of how conservationists, soldiers and civilians put aside their differences and worked together for the sake of the wild animals of Baghdad.