A Sound Report

- from the Belgrade Zoo

"The noise starts around half an hour before the bombs fall as the animals
in Belgrade zoo pick up the sound of approaching planes and missiles,
director Vuk Bojovic said. "It's one of the strangest and most disturbing
concerts you can hear anywhere.'' he said in an interview.

"It builds up in intensity as the planes approach - only they can hear
them, we can't - and when the bombs start falling it's like a choir of the
insane. Peacocks screaming, wolves howling, dogs barking, chimpanzees
rattling their cages.''

And then there are the NATO victims about which reporters do not pester
their spokesmen.  "I had 1,000 eggs of rare and endangered species
incubating, some of them ready to hatch in a couple of days. They were all
ruined (when the electricity was cut). That's 1,000 lives lost.''

The worst night the zoo can remember was when NATO hit an army
headquarters only 600 meters (yards) away, with a huge detonation.  "The
next day we found that some of the animals had killed their young,''
the director said. "A female tiger killed two of her four three-day-old
cubs, and the other two were so badly injured we couldn't save them.''
"She had been a terrific mother until then, raising several litters
without any problems. I can't say whether it was the detonation or the
awful smell that accompanied the bombing. I personally think it was the
detonation,'' he added. On the same night, an eagle owl killed all of its
five young, and ate the smallest of them. "It wasn't because she was
hungry. I can only think it was fear.''

The most disturbing case was of the huge Bengal tiger, 'Prince," who began
to chew his own paws. "He was practically raised in my office. He trusted
humans.''

[He met  the enemy too?] 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
250 Kensington Ave - Apt 608     Tel: 1-514-933 2539    
Westmount/Montreal PQ/QC         Fax: 1-514-933 6445 
Canada H3Z 2G8              e-mail:agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca 

My Personal/Professional Home Page> http://www.whc.neu.edu/gunder.html
 & New One Under Construction > http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/

My NATO/Kosovo Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/nato_kosovo/       
My professional/personal conclusion is the same as Pogo's - 
            We have met the enemy, and it is US 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~