[Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding

Mon Feb 10 22:20:14 CST 2014

Hi,
I would like to know what is really behind this power exercise, where
healthy animal is killed despite large protests and even money offerings.

Regards

Vratislav

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Ken Kinman
Sent: Tuesday, 11 February 2014 10:24 AM
To: Kim van der Linde; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding

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."
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> 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
> >
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