German zoo investigated for killing tiger cubs
Published: 23 May 08 14:44 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/12053/
Animal rights organizations Animal Public and People for Animal Rights Germany filed charges after the zoo in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt euthanized the three newborn cubs in early May.
"We can confirm the initial suspicions," Magdeburg chief prosecutor Silvia Niemann told German news agency DDP on Friday.
The zoo has said the zoo director Kai Perret decided to euthanize the cubs - offspring of Siberian tigress Kolina - in order to protect the purity of the species after consulting with a veterinarian and other zoo officials. A new testing method showed in February that the cubs' father, Toskan, is descended from Sumatran as well as Siberian tigers.
The zoo had planned to breed Kolina and Toskan since acquiring the pair in November 2006. Aborting the cubs would have been too risky for Kolina, Perret told DDP.
"We acted correctly and not in violation of the law," zoo spokeswoman Katrin Demco said on Friday, citing support from other zoos.
People for Animal Rights Germany said in a statement that concern over the purity of the breed was not sufficient grounds to kill the cubs.
"Those responsible at the Magdeburg Zoo deliberately bred these cubs without proper testing and then simply killed them," Kurt Simons, the group's chairman, said in a statement. "This is contrary to the intent of animal rights law and demonstrates the irresponsibility of the zookeepers."
The zoo froze the bodies of the cubs, two males and a female, and planned to deliver them to the University of Göttingen for academic use. The cubs' father, Taskan, was castrated.
The case is one of several in recent years in which Germany's zoos have butted heads with animal rights groups over the treatment of young animals.
Polar bear cub Knut became a star last year after an animal rights activist called for him to be euthanized after his mother rejected him. Knut was instead raised by hand, as was polar bear cub Snowflake in Nuremberg this year despite picketing from animal rights protesters at her media debut.
And in March, Berlin Zoo director Bernhard Blaszkiewitz admitted to being involved in the deaths of four wild cats when he headed the zoo's Tierpark facilities on the eastern outskirts of Berlin in 1991. Blaszkiewitz's admission came after allegations that hundreds of animals had disappeared the zoo under dubious circumstances.
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10 comments:
The soo can't win the argument on this one, no matter how you spin it. Strictly in terms of species conservation the neonates were of no value and the world already has too many tigers with dubious bloodlines. there was a logic to putting the cubs down. But there's no way it isn't a public relations disaster. And more importantly if the park intended to do DNA testing on the male, they had an obligation to do that before breeding not after the fact. They had two years to plan this. Don't know that I would label any of this as inhumane, but it was certainly irresponsible. This is why studbooks exist.
Ben
Ben,
Yes it was a horrific blunder. I couldn't understand the statement that a new testing method had become available in February, to prove the mixed blood ancestry of the father. While studbooks have been proven to have some "holes", it is still a pretty good place to start. I'm thinking it was a "mistake breeding", but if I assume that, I have to ask why was the mixed blood male there in the first place? While euthanasia for health, conservation/population control is by no means inhumane, as a patch for somebody "whoops", it comes close.
Wade
May have been an accidental breeding, but there's not much excuse for that. The cats were acquired in '06 with th intent of breeding. The ability to look at lineage using DNA isn't new, and as you note even with holes the studbook is the place to start. If there was any question at all about the male special care should have been taken to avoid "mistakes" until they had an answer on his line/ origins. The breeding must have taken place in late January for a birth in early May, so they appear to have tested quickly after that. (Adding credence to the notion of an accidental breeding.)
What I wonder is if they were foolish enough to announce the births and waited several days to put the cubs down? Because if they did it immediately -- the more responsible approach -- somebody working in the park blew the whistle. Again, this is a story you just can't "fix."
Ben,
I suggest that the only good thing that can come out of it, is the fact that it became public. That should make everyone in the zoo much more aware of what they are doing and why. I don't think much would have been gained by trying to bury it.
Wade
Wade, Ben, I agree with both of you, but while you guys were posting, I was mucking through the Leipzig Zoo International Tiger Studbook Amur Tiger Section. I followed the ancestry of the parents (#4686 and #4783) all the way back to their wild-caught ancestors, over two dozen tigers. I was looking for cracks, and found two.
1. The paternal grandfather of Toskan was Roman #3260, who was supposedly wild-caught, went to an unknown circus, then to Kiev, then to Munich, where he fathered Toskan's father Sascha #3831. It is unlikely that Roman was full-blooded Sumatran, since one would think that the experts at Kiev and Munich would have noticed. So let's assume for a moment that he was half Siberian and half Sumatran. That would make Toscan 12.5% Sumatran, which would show up in nuclear DNA.
2. The mother of the maternal grandmother (great-grandmother) of
Toscan was Nika #2836, who was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, went to an unknown circus, then to St. Petersburg, where she became the mother of Toscan's maternal grandmother. If we assume that she is the ancestor who is part Sumatran, this would show up in mitochondrial DNA, since she is Toscan's mother's mother's mother.
It is a very unfortunate and sad situation.
Mary Ann
Mary Ann,
How about those Wings!!! Excellent research by the way, but I take offense to the "insinuation" that Ben and I were wasting time, while you were busy doing something useful. LOL
In the next couple of days, we will address the "holes" in the elephant stud book, and the fact that nobody has addressed your concerns, with anything more then "that's interesting."
With DNA testing there should be absolutely no questions.
Wade
Wade, I actually watched a good part of the game with Joe. I love the celebration after. Wade, I appreciate the way you have been teaching me not to just follow my knee-jerk gut-level reaction, but to think things through rationally, and that's why I went to the studbook. I only meant that you guys beat me to the punch on the comments because what I was doing took longer. The article didn't say what testing method was used to determine the Sumatran ancestry. I think it would be great if you would address the elephant questions.
Mary Ann
Inhumane in the public eye maybe because the public was made aware of it? But, puppies are euthenized by the hundreds of thousands, so is the inhumanity because it was a planned breeding or just because it's a zoo doing the euthenizing? or because tigers are more newsworthy than puppies?
The German Boxer club, by the way, requires the euthenizing of surplus (I believe it's over 3) puppies in a litter for members of the club, and they have to approve all breedings. If there is not an outcry over this, why the fuss over the tigers? And, aren't some of the humane groups the principal cheerleaders for euthenasia?
Or, perhaps it's just Germans trying to distance themselves from the 'pure race' mentality of the past.
Y-DNA testing is probably more common, while mtDNA testing at least in many species still has a narrow database of maternal lineages. Zoo had two years to go to the studbook and look for holes. If I was just "guessing" and they claim that a "new" test became available, it was probably a mitochondrial test.
Ben
Y-DNA testing is probably more common, while mtDNA testing at least in many species still has a narrow database of maternal lineages. Zoo had two years to go to the studbook and look for holes. If I was just "guessing" and they claim that a "new" test became available, it was probably a mitochondrial test.
Ben
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