[Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding

Tue Feb 11 13:43:52 CST 2014

Mike,        I have nothing new to add.  However, I found the views of conservationist Liz Tyson on the matter very interesting (especially the part about white lions):                  http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/10/opinion/giraffe-culling-against/

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> Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 12:06:03 -0700
> From: mivie at montana.edu
> To: kinman at hotmail.com; aphodiinaemate at gmail.com; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding
> 
> Ken,
> 
> The public relations issue is one for the press to be responsible for.  
> What I object to is the pillorying of professional colleagues by other 
> professionals, or in this case a highly qualified amateur in a 
> professional forum, one that should  know better.  We in the US are 
> grateful for European support against pseudoscience reactions to 
> Evolution, i.e. Creationism, something that Europe simply doesn't have 
> to deal with at home.  Those who received a public education in Kansas 
> that included Evolution should be particularly sensitive to this fact.  
> Well, Europe's equivalent pseudoscience issues are animal rights, 
> homeopathy and GMO panic. We should give our European colleagues the 
> same support against an ignorant public that we receive on the 
> creationism issue.
> 
> When zoologists, amateur or professional, start bashing the 
> professionals in Copenhagen for "inexcusable" behavior that is sound and 
> considered management, it needs to be called.  We should defend them, 
> not pile on with an emotional and whipped up public.  The PR public 
> issues are a different sphere.  Sure, maybe there was a secret way to do 
> this that would not have had the press involved, but the management, the 
> educational value of the involvement of observers and the decisions made 
> should be supported by other professionals.  We do not know all of the 
> facts, the zookeepers in Copenhagen did.
> 
> All in all, the attention has provided a forum for people who have the 
> intelligence to grasp it to learn about just what has to be done to keep 
> these ex situ breeding programs going.  When in Kruger, I saw a giraffe 
> covered with a pride of lions, there was blood and gore everywhere, and 
> cars with kids lined up with binoculars.  Lets get real about this.
> 
> Watch this really excellent performance by one of the Copenhagen 
> zookeepers who handled a really aggressive  interview in a way that 
> educates http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2014/02/11/093002.htm
> 
> Idiot interviewer: "In London we would not show school children this 
> process, we would protect them from it."  Excellent professional 
> response "Why protect them from real life?"  Bravo!
> 
> and read this: 
> https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1604402_10151854271042133_614472380_n.jpg
> 
> Mike
> On 2/11/2014 9:01 AM, Ken Kinman wrote:
> > Hi Jason,        I certainly agree.  It's a public relations disaster that should have been anticipated, especially cutting him up in a public setting after the public was already clearly upset about putting him down.  The following news story is a good one from a Canadian perspective:
> > http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/giraffe-s-killing-in-copenhagen-reveals-zoos-dark-culling-practices-1.2530562
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:40:04 +0100
> >> From: aphodiinaemate at gmail.com
> >> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> >> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Killing of zoo giraffe to avoid inbreeding
> >>
> >> I don´t think anybody (in this forum at least) is arguing against the
> >> logic that Marius was, genetically speaking, dispensable. However the
> >> emotional argument has been an unmitigated disaster:
> >>
> >> Google hits for Marius the Giraffe 110,000
> >> Google hits for Giraffe conservation 6,920
> >>
> >> He even has a Wikipedia page! Not a little one mind you, but a
> >> detailed one started three days ago. The best bit is this: "Known for:
> >> Killed and fed to the lions". Now this is publicity money just can´t
> >> buy.
> >>
> >> The media coverage is even better. You´d think Copenhagen zoo is
> >> running a modern version of the Fabulous Gourmet Club. Those 200
> >> pounds of flesh are going to be awfully expensive. Geez. Couldn´t they
> >> plug the animal before giving it a name and buried it?
> >>
> >> I think an infusion of realpolitik in the whole affair would have been
> >> a better approach. Yes, couch nature enthusiasts may be ignorant, or
> >> emotional, or mushy-headed bleeding hearts, but that is the public,
> >> the ones that decides with their feet where to go for fun and
> >> ultimately where tax dollars go to. So once the giraffe became Marius
> >> The Giraffe and the euthanasia plan broke out in the news channels,
> >> salvage the situation somehow to avoid the backlash.  But carving
> >> Melman and feeding it to Alex, well... it´s a tabloids dream.
> >>
> >> Best
> >>
> >> Jason
> >>
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> >>
> >> Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
> >   		 	   		
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> >
> > Celebrating 27 years of Taxacom in 2014.
> >
> >
> 
> -- 
> __________________________________________________
> 
> Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
> 
> Montana Entomology Collection
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