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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > CANADIAN ZOO IN MIDST OF GAY PENGUIN RIGHTS DEBATE
CANADIAN ZOO IN MIDST OF GAY PENGUIN RIGHTS DEBATE
November 9 2011
Toronto, Canada – Few would argue that Buddy and Pedro are pals. Good pals, close friends, but perhaps a little too close at least for the comfort of officials at the Toronto Zoo. The two African penguins have apparently become so close that minders at the zoo are considering separating them, fearing that their bond has become much more than just friendship.
Buddy and Pedro, it is feared, have entered into an intimate relationship with one another, something which falls afoul of zoo guidelines on animal interactions. While no decision has yet been made, officials are considering splitting up the pair to try and break whatever bond has formed between them before it goes too far.
“They do courtship and mating behaviours that females and males would do. They use mating calls, preen each other, defend their territory, and are constantly standing together, usually huddle together,” said one zookeeper.
Aside from the gender issues, there is also a major age gap between the two penguins, ten years.
African penguins are endangered and any efforts to breed Buddy and Pedro would likely fall flat, owing to them both being male.
“These types of same-sex pairings are not uncommon in the animal kingdom at large, and actually relatively common amongst penguins for some reason, probably because of their intrinsically effeminate nature. These types of situations have appeared all over the world in captivity, just as it does with humans. In close confines members of the same gender will form bonds with each other,” said Scrape TV Zoology analyst Cambridge Walker. “The question isn’t whether or not it will happen, or even why it happens. The real question has to be in how we deal with the situation when it does arise. Attitudes towards these types of relationships in humans is changing as we speak but unfortunately that does not seem to have translated down to other animals, even in Canada.”
Canada is one of the few countries in the world that has fully legal same-sex marriage, amongst humans at least. Officials for the zoo declined to clarify their position on such relationships at their facility.
“This could well be a bold new area for gay rights. Granted, we are talking about an endangered species here that really does need to breed, but really what’s the point of living if you can’t love the one you want? Perhaps if these penguins are denied their rights they would prefer death,” continued Walker. “We do have techniques which would allow for artificial insemination with penguins which would make this argument kind of moot, but it appears that it will continue as long as attitudes persist. As far as we have come it appears that we are still a few steps behind the way the world works, both in the human world and in the penguin one.”
The Toronto Zoo has also gotten in trouble in the past for their efforts to stop monkeys from playing with themselves.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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