In May 2003, Brendan Whittington-Jones, a South African game reservist, joined other volunteers in Iraq to rescue stranded wild animals at the Baghdad Zoo. In the middle of the Iraq War and without any zoo experience, Brendan spent more than a year rehabilitating malnourished tigers, conducting rescue missions around the city to save bears and horses, and even took care of the lions belonging to Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay. Brendan wrote a book about his adventures called The Accidental Invasion of the Baghdad Zoo.

I also wrote an article about the ordeal based off conversations I had with Brendan and Rob Garnett (episodes 2 and 3). That story can be read here — Don't Feed The Lions: The Unbelievable Rescue at the Baghdad Zoo.

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