[Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding

[Ken Kinman]

Hi Kim,
        Well, I agree with some of the points you made.  Hard choices have to be made sometimes for the good of the species.  However, this was not a case where Marius would have been taking a spot of another (genetically more valuable) giraffe in a conservation program. 
       Yorkshire Wildlife Park offered to put him in their recently formed bachelor group of giraffes.  He wouldn't have been breeding there, and there is no reason to think they would sell him to a circus.  I think this makes the Copenhagen conservationists look bad when they ignore offers to give such a giraffe a new home: 
"Yorkshire Wildlife Park said it was “saddened” to hear of his death, expressing disappointment that its last minute offer to house Marius in its “state-of-the-art giraffe house” alongside four other males, including one from Copenhagen Zoo, had been ignored. A Dutch wildlife park had also offered to re-home him."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 14:34:39 -0500
> From: kim at kimvdlinde.com
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding
> 
> And let me add. Many zoos and sanctuaries for that matter have become 
> warehouses of geriatric and surplus animals solely because the public 
> cannot handle that we sometimes need to kill an exotic animal that is 
> healthy. As a result, valuable breeding programs for endangered species 
> are on hold because of it to the point that the only way to restart 
> those programs once there is space again is to get fresh wild caught 
> animals because there are no healthy reproducing animals left, or the 
> few remaining are too related. In some species, prolonged suppression of 
> the natural cycles to prevent breeding causes problems down the road 
> such as infertility. Does this all sound absurd? Yes, it does, because 
> at this moment, we have let out emotions (which is individual centered) 
> overrule what is best for the species. If we are serious about zoos as a 
> tool in conservation, we need to make the decision based on what is best 
> for the species, and not emotions surrounding a single individual.
> 
> Kim
> 
> 
> 
> On 2/10/2014 1:21 PM, Ken Kinman wrote:
> > Dear All,       As you may have heard, a young giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo was killed yesterday in order to avoid inbreeding.  That despite offers from other zoos to rehome him.  Although I can understand the zoo's rationalization, I don't understand what harm would have come from shipping him off to another zoo if he would be a zoo display animal (not a breeder).
> >       Anyway, I guess this is common practice in zoos to avoid inbreeding in other mammals.  However, displaying the dead animal to a crowd (including children), much less reportedly cutting it up in front of said crowd, was probably very unwise.  Especially a young giraffe.  But on the other hand, death threats against zoo officials certainly are not called for.  In any case, I suppose a civil debate is in order about just how strict a zoo's inbreeding protocol should be in such cases (as well as the displaying of such a dead animal in public).
> > http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/10/world/europe/denmark-zoo-giraffe/                                                                                                                                    --------------------Ken Kinman
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 		 	   		
> > _______________________________________________
> > Taxacom Mailing List
> > Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> > The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
> >
> > Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
> >
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched at: http://taxacom.markmail.org
> 
> Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.