Yesterday was the Zoo's annual Penguin Parade. If you are not familiar with the event, the Penguin Chicks leave Fish School, a behind the scenes area where they learn how to take food by hand, be comfortable around people, and finally swim!
The event has them waddle in all their cuteness, from the west end of the Lion House to the north side of Penguin Island. There were five Chicks in the 2013 hatch, four girls and one boy. They moved quick this year and the youngest girl started out being left behind, but she soon caught up!
Seeing these little ones is always a treat, they never disappoint to be beyond adorable. Their main Keeper Anthony Brown always does a great job MC'ing and providing information about them. The other aspect of the event,, the naming contest, again was flawed. I say again because last year the gal whose name was drawn, put down a name that was completely disrespectful. I did a blog post you can search for it if interested. This year whether intentional or not, the use of the word "drawing" in reference to the naming contest was completely misleading.
The last three of the Zoo's Penguin posts, made use of the words "Royal" and "Prince" marketing this years event to go hand in hand with the birth of the Royal Baby. I had a feeling they were leading up to wanting this Penguin Chick named after the new Prince, but even I didn't see the way this would play out.
I thought it was odd that Anthony didn't draw the name (as done previously) before the Parade as noted in the event timeline. Yet after the event the Marketing (?) guy Danny got on microphone and said, "The name chosen is George Alexander Louis." Gotta say I was surprised but not surprised. Their marketing of this being a Royal Penguin Chick was literal and by George! they were going to name that Chick after the new Prince, no matter. My first thought was damn, I should have gone with my Royal option of Windsor (even though I went with first choice Neptune), but not only do I believe the Zoo Staff doesn't even know what connection that has to the Royals, they had a preconceived winning name (to match the Royal Baby) and they searched through the entries til they found one with it. In my opinion there was no drawing, the name was chosen, just like they stated. I got no problem with the name, at least its not after a ballplayer, but why not just name the Chick and not even have people think they are entering a fair drawing contest? The event would have been just as good because the Chicks are the Stars anyway.
I plan to call the Chick Windsor and the Zoo can call it George Alexander Louis and get all the Media attention that they hope to by doing so. I heard the other Chicks will be named by money donors. Will post their names here when they are available.
I had many cute photos and put them together in a Video:
I agree with all you say on this naming thing. It was "chosen" and not a random drawing where the public had a fair chance. I would imagine a lot of people probably did want a royal name but only because the zoo pimped it that way. The penguins were adorable as always and they will live long and happy/healthy lives there because they do have a wonderful keeper that knows what he is doing and clearly loves his penguins!!! You could tell how he loves them. I just wished the zoo would knock it off with the keeping up with the Joneses and being so damn political all the time. The name thing is fun and should have been handled more fairly. I had chosen Poseidon (greek god of the ocean/earthquakes and horses). I am sure there were little kids that picked names they would have liked also. So, the zoo just went with the Royal Family in which the Royals won't even know. Again, loved the Penguin video, they are adorable!!!
ReplyDelete@Lee- Thank you for your comment. ... You are right. The Zoo imposed a timely theme and knew that they wanted to name the Chick after the new Royal. There were probably many great names in the basket, by those who hoped to have their entry drawn. ... Maybe with that mouthful of a name, it will end up being called my thought before Neptune, which was Gio/Geo. ... Glad you liked the video!
DeleteI don't see why this is as big of a deal as you are making it.
ReplyDelete@Elena - Thank you for your comment. ... The point of my blog is to note anything that I'm passionate about. That maybe something wonderful like an Animal Birth or Birthday, or it may be calling things as I see it. My opinion may not be the popular one, but its mine and you as the reader are welcome to make up your own. That said, I don't think I've made it a BIG deal, it is secondary to posting photos of the adorable Chicks. The reason that it is a "deal" is because the Zoo is notorious for misleading and other assorted BS and as someone who cares about things being done right and on the up and up, it rubs me the wrong way. BS is acceptable to most people, its not to me.
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