Babylon's Ark, The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo (2007) is a book by South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, with writer Graham Spence.
Anthony wrangled his way into becoming the first civilian, apart from media, to gain access to Iraq and then, drove a hired car from Kuwait, unarmed and unescorted, into the heart of Baghdad.
Anthony tells of his many adventures, for example, how he found himself sleeping with fighting troops, including tank crews of the US 3rd Infantry Division in the derelict Al-Rashid Hotel, made friends with government officials, soldiers and rallied foreign mercenaries to his cause.
Confronted by an appalling situation, cut off from the world and completely surrounded by fighting and looting, the team overcame every "can't be done," to hold together the remains of what was once the biggest zoo in the Middle East literally out of nothing.
On September 17, 2003, the day after Anthony returned home to South Africa, an American soldier, who had reportedly been drinking, attempted to feed the zoo's prize Bengal tiger "Malooh" through the enclosure bars and was bitten on the hand after.
Jastrow wanted to learn more about Lawrence's trip to Iraq during the early days of the Iraqi War to save the animals in the Baghdad Zoo, and write a screenplay suitable for a feature film.