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Animal Rights Activists: "We Want This Polar Bear Dead"

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by halfbreed, Mar 22, 2007.

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  1. halfbreed

    halfbreed Member

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    I read about this a while ago but didn't see a thread on it.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...11&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=picbox&ct=5

    'We want this baby polar bear dead' say animal rights lobby
    By ALLAN HALL -

    Tiny, fluffy and adorable, Knut the baby polar bear became an animal superstar after he was abandoned by his mother.

    He rapidly became the symbol of Berlin Zoo, whose staff bottle-fed him and handed out cuddles in between

    At three months old, however, the playful 19lb bundle of fur is at the centre of an impassioned debate over whether he should live or die.

    Animal rights activists argue that he should be given a lethal injection rather than brought up suffering the humiliation of being treated as a domestic pet.

    "The zoo must kill the bear," said spokesman Frank Albrecht. "Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws."

    When Knut was born in December, his mother ignored him and his brother, who died. Zoo officials intervened, choosing to raise the cub themselves.

    But Albrecht and other activists fret that it is inappropriate for a predator, known for its fierceness and ability to fend for itself in the wild, to be snuggled, bottle-fed and made into a commodity by zookeepers.

    They argue that current treatment of the cub is inhumane and could cause him future difficulties interacting with fellow polar bears. "They cannot domesticate a wild animal," added Ruediger Schmiedel, head of the Foundation for Bears.

    The charity cites a similar case of a baby sloth which was put to sleep after being abandoned by its mother last December in the Leipzig city zoo.

    But Berlin Zoo holds different opinions. Its chief vet Andre Schuele says the activists' criticisms would make him angry if he could take them seriously. "Polar bears live alone in the wild. I see no logical reason why this bear should be killed."

    Schuele also argued that given the increased rarity of wild polar bears, it makes sense to keep them alive in captivity so that they can be bred. "Polar bears are under threat of extinction, and if we feed the bear with a bottle, it has a good chance of growing up and perhaps becoming attractive as a stud for other zoos," he said.

    Knut, who recently made the official A-list when he was pictured by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for an environmental protection campaign, is scheduled to make his public debut at the zoo in the next few days.
     
    #1 halfbreed, Mar 22, 2007
  2. WhoMikeJames

    WhoMikeJames Member

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    Why don't they just release it into the wild. And why are the activists saying you can't raise a wild animal... Wtf is a zoo for then? Don't they keep the babies?
     
    #2 WhoMikeJames, Mar 22, 2007
  3. dntrwl

    dntrwl Member

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    Thats one of the dumbest things I've read. Animal Rights wants to kill animals because they feel he is a humiliation to animals? Oh so like other animals will see him on the news and feel bad.
     
    #3 dntrwl, Mar 23, 2007
  4. m_cable

    m_cable Member

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    The colbert report did a piece on this story that I thought was pretty funny:

    <embed FlashVars='config=http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/xml/data_synd.jhtml?vid=84023%26myspace=false' src='http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/syndicated_player/index.jhtml' quality='high' bgcolor='#006699' width='340' height='325' name='comedy_player' align='middle' allowScriptAccess='always' allownetworking='external' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer'></embed>
     
    #4 m_cable, Mar 23, 2007
  5. Wangdoodle

    Wangdoodle Member

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    Well, if he can't go to the wild, and can't stay in captivity, I say they should cook and eat him. No sense in letting a good supply of steak go to waste.
     
    #5 Wangdoodle, Mar 23, 2007
  6. francis 4 prez

    francis 4 prez Member

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    actually it appears they think he'll see other polar bears on national geographic and he'll feel bad.


    i'd be like "ha, that bear had to jump in the friggin' arctic ocean and chase a friggin' fish around and i got people waiting on me hand and foot, feeding me with a bottle. what a chump."
     
    #6 francis 4 prez, Mar 23, 2007
  7. StupidMoniker

    StupidMoniker I lost a bet

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    You are causing irreparable harm to that animal, stop right now and kill it.
     
    #7 StupidMoniker, Mar 23, 2007
  8. IROC it

    IROC it Member

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    I cut the head off this polar bear cub, and all I got was this stupid moniker.
     
    #8 IROC it, Mar 23, 2007
  9. arno_ed

    arno_ed Member

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    One biologist said: Dogs are the smartest animals alive, They've trained Human in bringing them food.

    Ofcourse this is just some stupid guy trying to get attention. However this way he make animal right activists look stupid.
     
    #9 arno_ed, Mar 23, 2007
  10. Behad

    Behad Member

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    Sounds to me like his mother already knew he would be a nerd bear, destined to live alone.
     
    #10 Behad, Mar 23, 2007
  11. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Atomic Playboy
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    The monkeys are going to have a field day with this one ~ the "who's your daddy" jokes will cut to the core.
     
    #11 KingCheetah, Mar 23, 2007
  12. rhadamanthus

    rhadamanthus Member

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    [​IMG]
     
    #12 rhadamanthus, Mar 23, 2007
  13. hotballa

    hotballa Contributing Member

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    yeah i dun see the activists' argument on this one. he's a zoo bear, they get their food fed to them, it isn't like bears born in captivity need to learn sruvival instintcs anyway.
     
    #13 hotballa, Mar 23, 2007
  14. hotballa

    hotballa Contributing Member

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    here's a picture of the bear BTW

    [​IMG]
     
    #14 hotballa, Mar 23, 2007
  15. pradaxpimp

    pradaxpimp Member

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    did anyone misread the name?
     
    #15 pradaxpimp, Mar 23, 2007
  16. macalu

    macalu Member

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    wow, way to possess a moral polarity. i don't know if i can bear this stupidity much longer.
     
    #16 macalu, Mar 23, 2007
  17. Wangdoodle

    Wangdoodle Member

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    Reminds me of Dr. Strangelove... "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"
     
    #17 Wangdoodle, Mar 23, 2007
  18. 111chase111

    111chase111 Member

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    This may sound obvious but animals are not people. However, people tend to anthropomorphize things and that's where the trouble starts. I am totally against animal cruelty for the sake of it and I love my dogs (treat them as my kids) but when you start thinking of animals as people that's when all this craziness starts.

    Animals don't think of people as one of their kind. Lions, polar bears, cougars, etc... generally don't stalk and kill their own kind nor do they think "look at the cute little humans - lets not attack and eat them because they have feelings".
     
    #18 111chase111, Mar 23, 2007
  19. macalu

    macalu Member

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    actually, animals kill their own kind all the time.
     
    #19 macalu, Mar 23, 2007
  20. Party Pizza

    Party Pizza Member

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    Dolphins save swimmers from shark


    Sam Jones
    Wednesday November 24, 2004
    The Guardian


    Move over Rover, let Flipper take over. News from New Zealand suggests man's best friend is in fact the bottlenose dolphin.

    It emerged yesterday that four swimmers were saved from a great white shark by a pod of altruistic dolphins, who swam in circles around them until the humans could escape.

    Rob Howes, a British-born lifeguard, had gone swimming with his daughter, Niccy, and two of her friends off Ocean beach near Whangarei on the North Island, when the dolphins suddenly appeared. At first, he thought the mammals were being playful, but he soon realised the danger the swimmers were in.

    "They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us," Mr Howes told the New Zealand Press Association.

    He tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins herded him back - just as he spotted a three-metre [10ft] great white shark heading towards him. "I just recoiled," he said. "It was only about two metres away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face. They had corralled us up to protect us."

    The dolphins kept their vigil for 40 minutes until the shark lost interest, and the group could swim 100m back to the shore.

    Another lifeguard, Matt Fleet, on patrol in a lifeboat, saw the dolphins circling the swimmers and slapping their tails on the water to keep them in place. He told the Northern Advocate newspaper that he also had a clear sighting of the shark. "Some of the people later on the beach tried to tell me it was just another dolphin; but I knew what I saw," he said.

    Although the incident happened on October 30, the swimmers have only just spoken of their rescue.

    Ingrid Visser, of Orca Research, an environmental group, said the dolphins' behaviour was understandable, as they attack sharks to protect themselves and their young, and similar incidents had been reported round the world. "They could have sensed the danger to the swimmers, and taken action to protect them," she said.
     
    #20 Party Pizza, Mar 23, 2007
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