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| Europe |
| Call to castrate Knut the polar bear |
| 2010-03-02 |
| AN animal rights group has called for Knut the polar bear, who shot to global stardom as a cub in 2007, to be castrated to avert incest with his cousin. The three-year-old darling of Berlin Zoo was given a female companion, Giovanna, last year but the German chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) warned against their mating. The group's zoo expert, Frank Albrecht, noted that Knut and Giovanna, known as Gianna for short, had the same grandfather. Any offspring would threaten the genetic diversity of the polar bear population in Germany and risk susceptibility to a condition known as "incest depression", he said. "Knut fans need to know that only Knut's castration would allow a long life together with Giovanna," Mr Albrecht said today. Gianna had lived in Munich but was placed with the strapping Knut in Berlin due to construction work on her own den. After chilly introductions, the two have gradually grown quite close. The housing arrangement, however, was initially intended to be temporary. Knut drew an outpouring of sympathy around the globe after his mother cast him out as a cuddly cub. The cult of Knut spread around the world and his first public appearance attracted some 500 reporters, including around 100 camera crews. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #11 Ummm, Glenmore cutting their nuts off does NOT eliminate either sex or pleasure, just offspring. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-03-02 23:02 |
| #10 The poor guy's already got to spend his life in a zoo - and they want to deprive him of the pleasure of s*x too (even if it is with his cousin)? If they're all that concerned about birth defects in potential cubs, why don't they just give his cousin the Pill? But no --- the much prefer to cut the guy's knuts off. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-02 19:36 |
| #9 As my daughter was told when she hung up her family tree in Social Studies class / "That's not a family tree, it's a family vine!" |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-02 19:29 |
| #8 Tipper, your link seems to really Really explain the Middle East.....! |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2010-03-02 18:34 |
| #7 Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. They may have a point. Without goats things would be even worse. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-03-02 17:06 |
| #6 Sad thought for the day: they may move on to human rights in the future. That wasn't an earthquake, that was a giant shudder going through these regions. |
| Posted by: tipper 2010-03-02 17:04 |
| #5 Probably not. They don't recognize the rights of humans, only pet animals. They better look cute though. They employ some pretty naked ladies though. At least a little gift. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-03-02 16:58 |
| #4 They're "rights activists" who want to protect various beings' rights by chopping their nuts off. Sad thought for the day: they may move on to human rights in the future. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-03-02 16:51 |
| #3 This is a very very serious problem. I don't know whether polar bears have incest in the Arctics (I imagine they just grab the next available female without bothering), but please, this is IMPORTANT!!! I'm just missing the Global Waming factor here. And Knut needs to become a Vegetarian as well, of course. I'm also worried that PETA seems a bit confused about the difference between "castrated" and "sterilized". Well, maybe not. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-03-02 16:47 |
| #2 Knutless? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-03-02 16:06 |
| #1 Maybe he would be willing to mate with a dozen PETA activists. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-03-02 15:54 |