Marjan, the lion, now pride of Afghanistan’s Kabul zoo

Kabul's zoo has unveiled its new star attraction - Marjan the lion, who lived on a rooftop in the city until rescued by animal welfare officials last year when close to death.

A businessman in the war-torn Afghan capital had bought the male lion cub as a status symbol for US$20,000 and kept his pet on a roof terrace.

However, the fast-growing animal was seriously ill when Kabul municipal officials tracked him down last October.

"We found him in a very dire condition," vet Abdul Qadir Bahawi said on Tuesday. "He was almost dead. He couldn't move, he couldn't even raise his head.

"We were not sure that he would survive. But our efforts paid off, and he is much better. Now he loves to play with us. I think he loves us a lot."

Marjan is named after a famous half-blind lion who lived at Kabul zoo and became a symbol of Afghanistan's national survival after living through coups, invasions, civil war and the hardline Taliban era before dying in 2002.

The first Marjan, born in 1976, was blinded by a grenade thrown by an angry soldier whose brother had been killed after entering his cage. Mujahideen fighters also ate the zoo's deer and rabbits and shot dead its only elephant.