What's My Name? - Who's Really Who, at the SFZoo!

I asked the Curator Dominick the Names of both the Toucan and the Sloth, knowing full well what the answer would be (because I've heard it so many times before), but wanted the official word just for documentation purposes.  "They don't have Names".  The Zoo Staff must really think everyone is stupid enough to believe that.  AND why lie?  Why not own the fact that they like to rob the Animals they acquire of their Original Names and give them Names they don't know, and force them to learn to respond to them?  Tell the public, They come with Names but we change them.

That said, in the instance of the Sloth, he came from the Tulsa Zoo with the Name DT.  Not sure what it stands for, and sure he could probably have a better Name, but this is the one he's had and knows.  I would love to win the lotto and make a huge donation to the Zoo with the stipulation that the Director change her name to whatever I choose.  Oh the fantasy of it!  

Some might ask why I'm so stuck on this Name issue?  To me, your name is your Identity.  It is already too rampant that Humans don't respect Animals as feeling Beings, and put themselves above them.  Screwing with their Identity just feeds into that and doesn't set a good example of how we as Humans should be treating Animals.  That said, I do get that there is a fundraising aspect to this, and I've written much about how it could be done differently.  Since the majority of the time its not done differently, they should at least continue to use the Original name behind the scenes. In addition to Respect, they also shouldn't be confused, especially for safety purposes. For example, if they needed to call in the Female Siberian Tiger, they have her so screwed up now she doesn't know what her name is, I think she just responds to voices.  What happens when someone who doesn't work with her might need to call her in?  What happens is she ever was transferred to another Zoo?  For example, Male Sumatran Tiger Taymor had his name changed to "Larry".  I heard the SFZoo will not be keeping him his whole life, so what happens when he moves to another Zoo?  His studbook name is Taymor but SFZoo has conditioned him to be called Larry.  Awful and Stupid practice.  Back to Shastyuh.  When she first got to the Zoo she came to Shastyuh, her Original name and one she had for Eleven yrs when she arrived at the SFZoo.  Then her name was changed. Her first main Keeper Barb, always used her Original Name and that of all the Cats in her care.  When she left, under the reign of Asst Curator Debbie Marin, she became ShastyuhMartha.  Then just Martha, her Donor Name.  All the Animals should always remain their Original Names by Zoo Staff. Their Donor Name should only be for Public purposes.

Since I write about the Animals using their Original Names (although I do sometimes put the Donor Name in quotations), I thought I'd do a post about the Names so not to confuse anyone.  

Compiling List ... Coming soon!