Tag: zoo

Hypocrisy of animal lovers over a dead giraffe

OK, so by now I think everyone and their mother have heard of a giraffe that has been killed in the zoo.  Then it was chopped into pieces, which were used for feeding other zoo animals and, partially, sent off to research centers.   Now Cyprus Mail reports that there were death threats to the zoo staff.

COPENHAGEN Zoo’s scientific director and other staff have received death threats after a healthy giraffe was killed to avoid inbreeding among the long-necked beasts there, the zoo said on Monday.

Oh, the hypocrisy of this!

People look on as a veterinarian prepares to dismember the giraffe Marius after it was killed in Copenhagen Zoo

Let me try to get this straight:

  • First of all, we are talking about the an animal that was living in the FREAKING ZOO!!!  Oh, is that OK with you?  Fine.
  • Parts of the giraffe were fed to OTHER ANIMALS.  And that’s quite a natural for many of them to survive.
  • It was a public autopsy.  Why?  Why? The kids are watching!!!  Yeah, right.  If you don’t want your kids to see – simply walk away.  Just remember, that not everybody is like you.  And sometimes, to learn more about animals – you need to kill them, open them up and study.  Not only animals, by the way – we do the same to birds, fish, and even people.
  • There are countless cases of animal cruelty, abuse, and accidents in the world.  On a larger scale.  Many times on industrial scale (are you a vegetarian already?).  And yet – this giraffe is special.  Right… Go adopt a stray dog or something.
  • And last, but not least, seriously?  Death threats to your own freaking species?  Over a justified (arguably, somewhat) kill of a single animal of totally other species?  I don’t get it.

I’m all for animal loving and preservation of species.  But this giraffe has nothing to do with it.  Let animals leave in their own kingdom, rather than be a toy and public spectacle.  Let them practice their natural selection.  Oh, and watch them once in a while to see how beautiful and elegant they are.  Just make sure you are at a distance and you have a loaded gun.  Or it will be about your natural selection.  Cause animals eat other animals (including humans).  And nature is quite a cruel lady.

The librarian

I have this “librarian stereotype” (not sure, if it is “stereo”, but it’s a “type” alright). A thin woman in her middle ages, wearing glasses, simple summer-time dress, and always with a book. Something like that. Of course, there are people of other professions who look like this, and there are definitely librarians who look different, but that doesn’t matter for now. What matters is that the first thought that I get in my mind when I see someone looking like that is “A librarian!”.

I often see one of these “librarians” in the zoo. Every weekend Maxim and I go to the zoo, and there is this woman, who always reads a book, waiting for people who are happy to pay two pounds to have their kids photographed together with a nicely dressed pony. The animal is usually wearing pink feathers on the head, while eating grass nearby.

Today, the “librarian” was there again. As usual. Reading the book. But today she was dressed differently. She has her jeans and some sort of a short t-shirt. Nothing special. But…

When we were passing by, I noticed that she had a tattoo. It was one of those party girl tattoos on her back just above the jeans belt. Hmm… While I paused there for a second, I noticed another tattoo – some Chinese saying down on her leg…

She was reading a book, paying no attention to me. Which was good. Because I was staying there like a guy with one of his childhood stereotypes shredded into pieces.

This was no regular librarian. This was a party librarian. Or she was no librarian at all. Boy! A train of thoughts went through my mind.

And then Maxim called me to see a camel.