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Zoo to split up 'gay' penguins

Published: Nov 7, 2011
Gay Penguins Split For Breeding (VIDEO) Love Denied: Relationship Fascinates Zookeepers In Toronto
by Jack Ryan

Why is the Toronto Zoo splitting up two allegedly gay penguins? For the survival of African penguins. Zookeepers in Toronto are having to split up a pair of love sick "gay" penguins for a breeding program.

Zookeepers say that Buddy and Pedro, two African penguins are nearly inseparable and have shown signs of mating behaviors. They often mimic male and female courtship behaviors. For instance, Zookeepers say that every night the two pair off to sleep together.

African penguins are endangered. In a effort to help boost the number of penguins, Buddy and Pedro who have nearly perfect genes must be split up to mate with female penguins.

What do you think? Should these penguins be split up to save their race or is love more important?

No word if the two will ever be reunited.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/st...12389159.shtml

I read this yesterday and while it seems a little saddening to split them up, I guess I understand the reasons.

Let me clarify - while I am opposed to the split it has nothing to do with the supposed sexual preference of the penguins, but everything to do with what I am sure is the totally apalling and depressing life of an animal in a zoo. These two have formed a companionship that provides familairty and comfort, and it's the destruction of that bond that is upsetting.

In the article I read yesterday, some of the reader comments focused on the fact that this is necessary because the animal is endangered; therefore we MUST force them to breed in order to ensure the suurvival of the species.

:cool:

How fricken retarded. How about letting them go in their natural habitat AND NOT KILLING THEM instead of holding them captive and forcing, or just hoping really hard, that they will reproduce.

I guess ultimately I feel zoos are a very sorry excuse to keep wild animals captive. It's not right.

No amount of human interference is going to undo what we've done to this animal species or the hundreds of others we wiped out in the name of greed.

From the much-maligned-but-still-a-good-source-of-data-Wikipedia:

Quote:

Of the 1.5-million African Penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th-century. African penguin populations, which breed in Namibia and South Africa, have declined by 95 percent since preindustrial times.

Commercial fisheries have forced these penguins to search for prey farther off shore, as well as making them eat less nutritious prey, since their preferred prey has become scarce.

As recently as the mid-twentieth century, penguin eggs were considered a delicacy and were still being collected for sale. Unfortunately, the practice was to smash eggs found a few days prior to gathering, to ensure that only fresh ones were sold. This added to the drastic decline of the penguin population around the Cape coast, a decline which was hastened by the removal of guano from islands for use as fertilizer, eliminating the burrowing material used by penguins. Penguins remain susceptible to pollution of their habitat by petrochemicals from spills, shipwrecks and cleaning of tankers while at sea.

Disaster struck on 23 June 2000, when the iron ore tanker MV Treasure sank between Robben Island and Dassen Island, South Africa. It released 1,300 tons of fuel oil, causing an unprecedented coastal bird crisis, oiling 19,000 adult penguins at the height of the best breeding season on record for this vulnerable species. The oiled birds were brought to an abandoned train repair warehouse in Cape Town to be cared for. An additional 19,500 un-oiled penguins were removed from Dassen Island and other areas before they became oiled, and were released about 800 kilometres east of Cape Town, near Port Elizabeth. This gave workers enough time to clean up the oiled waters and shores before the birds could complete their long swim home (which took the penguins between 1 and 3 weeks). Some of the penguins were named and radio-tracked as they swam back to their breeding grounds. Tens of thousands of volunteers descended upon Cape Town to help with the rescue and rehabilitation process, which was overseen by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) and the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), and took more than three months to complete. This was the largest animal rescue event in history; more than 91% of the penguins were successfully rehabilitated and released - an amazing feat that could not have been accomplished without such a tremendous international response.

I'm sorry if this makes me a bad person, but I really can't bring myself to care about this.

I dont like animals abuse, and his made ME REALLY MAD, HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO THE PENGUINS, UGGGHH STUPID PEOPLE WOULD DO THIS. I HAVE A STRONG STANCE BY THIS, THIS IS MALICOUS AND HATEFUL THAT ANYONE WILL DO THIS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas (Post 1026836)

I'm sorry if this makes me a bad person, but I really can't bring myself to care about this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas (Post 1026836)

I'm sorry if this makes me a bad person, but I really can't bring myself to care about this.

I'm an animal & I'm for gay rights obviously, (is it gay rights when it's animals, who knows?) but I'm sort of with you on this. Why can't they let them mate with females to bring up the penguin population and then let them go back to their boyfriend? Or are penguins one of these animals that mate for life? If they are they should just let them stay together and be done with it. Whatevaaaa. :laugh:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TerraRhiannon (Post 1026858)

The idea that the penguins are gay and that the zoo is attempting some aviary form of reparative therapy is patently ridiculous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas (Post 1026912)

The idea that the penguins are gay and that the zoo is attempting some aviary form of reparative therapy is patently ridiculous.

Exactly! What if both of those males penguins want nothing to do with the female penguins? At the very least, the handlers should respect their relationship.

If they have the ability to mate/fertilize, give them time to do the job, and reunite them. It's as if they have to stick around and become father figures to their off-spring.

This would make a great story line for an animated movie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas (Post 1026912)

The idea that the penguins are gay and that the zoo is attempting some aviary form of reparative therapy is patently ridiculous.

You do know that literally hundreds of animal species exhibit homosexual behavior?

It is no more ridiculous for the penguins to be gay than it is for me. Or you.

Am I the only one who sees that their INTENT is not to separate the nelly, lisping, freaking penguins, it's to keep their species from becoming extinct?;)

:rolleyes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie (Post 1027012)

Am I the only one who sees that their INTENT is not to separate the nelly, lisping, freaking penguins, it's to keep their species from becoming extinct?;)

:rolleyes:

No, you're not the only one. However I personally find zoos and breeding programs repulsive and arrogant regardless of their 'intent' which has nothing to do with species preservation and everything to do with maintaining a popular attraction which creates profit.

Those animals should be free and allowed to breed on their own terms without interference from the very species who caused them to become endangered in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant (Post 1027010)

You do know that literally hundreds of animal species exhibit homosexual behavior?

It is no more ridiculous for the penguins to be gay than it is for me. Or you.

"Exhibiting homosexual behavior" and "being gay" are two different things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas (Post 1027021)

"Exhibiting homosexual behavior" and "being gay" are two different things.

:laugh: Maybe for human college-aged males concerned about peer perception.

The zoo has promised to reunite the penguins afterwards. :woohoo:

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#...y-penguins.hln

This has been weighing heavily on my mind for the past few days.

You could throw me in a room with the hottest chicks on the planet and it's not going to make me want to **** them. I will be their best friend and play games with them but that's all. I will be sad that I have been seperated from Pedro and the female will console me. I may be viewed being hugged by a girl but that's as far as it would go. I may be viewed as sparkly with excitement when they toss me back into the pen with Pedro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas (Post 1027267)

You're not a penguin!

Not a penguin??? Are you crazy??? I've been a fan of Fleetwood Mac since the Rumours album was new.