XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: total-morons@barackobama.com   
      
   BERLIN — Some zoologists are baffled that in order to prevent   
   inbreeding, a Danish zoo killed a young giraffe and fed its   
   carcass to lions.   
      
   "It's simplistic to say the animal doesn't fit into our breeding   
   plans – so then why let it breed it in the first place if you   
   know it's not a desirable offspring," asked William Amos,   
   professor of evolutionary genetics at the University of   
   Cambridge.   
      
   "I think it's a rather feeble excuse. It's better to have   
   another giraffe, particularly if it's a healthy one."   
      
   Marius, an 18-month-old giraffe, was killed by a gunshot Sunday   
   at the Copenhagen Zoo and fed to lions in full view of zoogoers.   
   It was even broadcast via the internet.   
      
   Zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro said Monday that he and the   
   zoo's scientific director, Bengt Holst, received several threats   
   over the telephone and in e-mails. They quoted one e-mail as   
   saying: "The children of the staff of Copenhagen Zoo should all   
   be killed or should get cancer."   
      
   The killing went ahead even though an online petition gathered   
   tens of thousands of signatures against the killing and the zoo   
   turned down offers from other zoos and individuals to take in   
   the animal, which was born in captivity and was one of seven   
   reticulated giraffes, a species native to Africa.   
      
   Holstsaid the giraffe was killed to maintain a healthy giraffe   
   population. Inbreeding can cause animals to be born with   
   significant deformations.   
      
   "If an animal's genes are well represented in a population   
   further breeding with that particular animal is unwanted," he   
   said in a statement posted to the zoo's website.   
      
   "As this giraffe's genes are well represented in the breeding   
   program and as there is no place for the giraffe in the Zoo's   
   giraffe herd the European Breeding Program for Giraffes has   
   agreed that Copenhagen Zoo euthanize the giraffe."   
      
   But Amos said nature has its own way of dealing with inbreeding.   
      
   "Basically, we don't understand enough about these things," he   
   said. "The subject of inbreed depression, which is what you can   
   get when close relatives breed, is a concern. However, when you   
   get that, you tend to get (the death) of animals which (are   
   overbred)."   
      
   At the Giraffe Center in Nairobi, Kenya, visitors feed the 10   
   giraffes that live on the spacious colonial-era grounds.   
   Officials said that here, at the center, which is devoted to the   
   Rothschild breed of giraffes threatened by extinction, the   
   animals are given a protected environment where they can breed   
   naturally. If there is a danger of inbreeding, the giraffes are   
   taken elsewhere.   
      
   The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, which monitors   
   international standards and of which Copenhagen is a member,   
   said it backed the zoo's decision.   
      
   "Our aim is to safeguard for future generations a genetically   
   diverse, healthy population of animals against their   
   extinction," it said in a statement posted to its website.   
   "Copenhagen is highly involved in these programs and took a   
   transparent decision that the young animal in question could not   
   contribute to the future of its species further, and given the   
   restraints of space and resources to hold an unlimited number of   
   animals within our network and program, should therefore be   
   humanely euthanized."   
      
   The petition that once called for saving Marius is now calling   
   for Holst to be fired.   
      
   "Take action now so other innocent animals do not suffer the   
   same fate as Marius!" the petition says.   
      
   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/10/giraffe-   
   killed-fed-to-lions-denmark/5364775/   
      
   Let's kill the liberals who are protesting and theatening   
   children instead.   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)