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Save the Giraffe!
TonyKath:
The decision certainly can't be right. But people do make a point of zooming in on lion kills while on African safaris - and in fact the game wardens ensure the locations are radioed to the safari buses. I wouldn't be surprised if a few kids weren't watching as well.
Tony
Maik:
Statement from Copenhagen Zoo. Feeding Marius to the lions probably prolonged the life-expectancy of a couple of cows by a few days, though few would raise a fuss about them being bred and killed for meat eaters. Turning the butchery into a public spectacle does seem a bit bizarre, IMO. Maybe it's educational, we've probably all seen our local butcher chopping up bits of meat but who goes just to watch?
Article in yesterday's Independent points out it's not uncommon for zoos to kill off surplus stock: The killing of Marius the giraffe opens an important debate about genetics, animal rights and zoo inbreeding.
--- Quote ---David Williams-Mitchell, of Eaza, said: “There are habitats which are disappearing and zoos are the last line of resistance in building captive populations… But in order for the captive populations to be viable, in-breeding must be avoided."
Mark Jones, a vet and executive director of the British office of the Humane Society International, said: “The fact of the matter is that it is the young animals that help zoos to draw in the crowds and zoos are finding that when they reach maturity there is no space for them and no market for them in other zoos.”
--- End quote ---
From another article in the Independent:
--- Quote ---Animals in zoos often go insane from the frustration of life in captivity, and visitors leave without having learned anything meaningful about animals' natural behaviour, intelligence or beauty. There is nothing dignified or inspiring about seeing bored and depressed animals. In the wild, gorillas don't eat their own sick and pull out their hair in frustration. Free polar bears don't pace back and forth constantly on concrete. The typical behaviour of captive animals, such as bar-biting, self-mutilation, pacing and rocking, is unheard of among their free relatives.
We wouldn't go to a prison to learn about typical human society, so it makes no sense to observe imprisoned animals in order to learn about them. Today, we have IMAX movies and entire television channels dedicated to showing wildlife documentaries, which serve as virtual field trips and teach generations of children about animals without harming them. We no longer have any excuse for keeping intelligent social animals incarcerated and denying them everything that's natural and important to them.
From the moment he was born, Marius was destined to lead a life of misery at the hands of his human captors. Giraffes rarely die of old age in captivity. Had he not been killed yesterday, he would have spent his short life as an exhibit, stranded in a cold climate, thousands of miles away from his true home. Although his death is heartbreaking, it's his birth that should have been prevented.
--- End quote ---
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-youre-really-saddened-by-the-death-of-marius-the-giraffe-stop-visiting-zoos-9119868.html
Arguments both ways: in his boring captivity he was looked after, in the wild he could have, say, broken a leg, been stalked by and ripped apart by a pack of lions.
Maik:
--- Quote ---Zoos in Europe ‘kill 5,000 healthy animals a year’
Revelation comes in wake of controversy over healthy giraffe put down in Copenhagen
However, some zoos, such as Twycross in Warwickshire, have a policy of not putting down healthy animals.
Dr Lesley Dickie, executive director of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (Eaza), told BBC Radio 4’s The Report that between 3,000 and 5,000 healthy animals are put down every year across Europe. “That’s our estimate for all animals management euthanised in the zoo, be it tadpoles up until a giraffe,” she said.
She added that “less than a few hundred” larger animals such as giraffes, zebras, lions and bears were included in the total.
--- End quote ---
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/zoos-in-europe-kill-5000-healthy-animals-a-year-9155722.html
Maik:
--- Quote ---Heart-breaking pictures have emerged of the moment a giraffe said goodbye to a terminally ill zoo worker, who had spent most of his adult life cleaning the animal's enclosures.
Maintenance worker Mario has terminal cancer and had asked to be taken into the giraffe enclosure at Rotterdam’s Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo.
The 54-year-old was wheeled into the enclosure on his hospital bed. Within minutes, the giraffes approached him and began to nuzzle and kiss him.
--- End quote ---
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/giraffe-kisses-dying-zoo-worker-final-goodbye-9207114.html
TonyKath:
Nice story but very sad. Bit weird this giraffe was Mario and the one seen off in Copenhagen was Marius. If I was said 12 foot high quadruped I might change my name to... er... Spencer. Hope this makes the Danish zoo keepers think again!
Tony
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