SFZoo Re-Names Koala "Burnt Earth" Whaaat?! & Other Naming Disrespects

When I wrote my last post, Oakland Zoo Bans Single Use Plastic.  Why Wasn't SFZoo First? dated 2.23.20, I noted that two things had come up the weekend before.  I wrote about this, the second thing, in part, but then got bummed out and stopped.  I finished it the next day but didn't have time to proof read it.  By the end of the week when I did have time, I got word that one of my Farm Friends passed away, and with that sadness and respect for her, I didn't try do any zoo related writing last weekend.

RIP Mole, Bless Your Soul Beautiful Lady.  I Love You and Miss You.  Hope you have a wonderful afterlife with your Sheep Family who I know are with you.

So, the second thing...  As I finished the Plastics post, I was on a semi-roll with working on draft posts, and then this happened.

I knew this was coming, as the Zoo was running a fundraiser to send funds to Australia to aid the fire victims.  That said, anyone who knows me or has followed this blog over the years, knows the Animals Names are one of the things that really affect me.  The Re-Naming of Animals that already have names, is one of my biggest issues.  Disrespectful or awful names just make it worse.  This is sadly both.  

As I read the name reveal, Cobar, meaning Burnt Earth, I felt sick. This little guy is now been re-named after a tragedy and must carry it around for life?  While it seems by their wording that they think its clever, its just not.  Its terribly disrespectful and sad.

I literally shutdown and just turned to watching movies for two days to try an not think about. ... It took me as long to ask friends what they thought, just too make sure my personal feelings about the subject weren't isolated.

I know I am hyper-sensitive to everything involving the Animals.  I don't see that as a bad thing.  We can surely use more people who are.  Since I seem to carry a stigma that my opinions are not shared by others, I thought I'd share the comments made by a few friends.

I didn't want to influence anyone's opinion, so all I wrote was, "The Zoo Named a Koala.  I have strong feelings about this, anyone else?"   These were the replies...

You can see they also attached a second name, Wollemi, that had a much nicer meaning. Why didn't they just go with that?  There is no need for a double name and this name at least does not carry the drear if a tragic event.

This little guy came with a name. A cute name. A name he knows.  Hopefully the Keepers will still use it and it will remain his official identity in the Studbook.

The re-naming of Animals is out of control.  It's like an obsession to strip every Animal of their Identity.  It used to be only to raise funds,  which always begged the question, Why can't they think of other ways to raise funds?  Though, in recent times, there hasn't even been money attached to re-naming, just happens for the heck of it.  There does seem to be random meaning behind some of the names, but that doesn't make it right.  Re-naming the four Chimpanzee additions, and the two Orangutans, was unnecessary and disrespectful.  All but one had money attached.  That one, is Qadeer, who is now named Gombus, which is literally another name for the southern dish Gumbo.  He is named after food. I guess we can be thankful Big Daddy wasn't attached to it, like poor beloved Falcor who's name translated to Big Daddy Language (Bahasa).

I'm sure the next victim will be Kimani.  In case you missed my earlier post, Kimani is the new female Gorilla.  The Zoo has yet to even mention her, even though she has been here for several months.  Anyway I digress.  Kimani, like many Animals, especially Great Apes and Big Cats, have fan bases who like to keep up with their journey.  Once the Zoo inevitably changes her name, that will make it hard, for those who knew her since she was born. Thankfully this re-naming nonsense wasn't around decades ago, or no one would even know our Cobby's (Chimpanzee) history.

Here's a couple clips of Kimani from my cell phone.  I haven't uploaded camera files in over two months.  Once I do there will be more!  So, subscribe to my YouTube for alerts.

Welcome Kimani!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caRCpAapNGw

Monifa and Kimani - Bluff Charging
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0a0dV0fp_E

This is turning out longer than I intended.  It's one of those subjects that set me off on a roll.  So, let's now talk about the Snow Leopard Cubs, who will be two in June and have never been given official names!  What?!   So it seems, when the rights to their names were auctioned off, the people who won, never submitted names.  Seriously, I think its time they are given names, and those names should be the ones the Keepers gave them when they were babies. Those should be their permanent studbook names that they carry for life.  They obviously know those names, and it seems like the logical thing to do.  At least to me.

As for the names with money attached.  I have said, there are more creative ways, one being a sign at the Animals exhibit saying their care is sponsored by,...  That recognition goes further than naming.  If naming must happen, and its a re-name, the Animal should retain its original name and be the name the Keepers use, not change it altogether.  That is not only disrespectful but awful for training purposes.  If newborns, give Keepers guidelines, and those names used.  If re-named, should only be used for public purposes, which unfortunately hasn't been what's happened for some.

Then there's this kind of nonsense.  The Ballplayer names really irk me.  I've written about it before, as we have too many Animals re-named after sports people. Poor Tucker the Hippo has had two names.  Belozi the Black Rhino, Raj the Snow Leopard, several Monkeys, one of our Goats, and now another Goat.  In my opinion, the only purpose it serves is to get some media attention, if one of the local teams happens to do good.  The disrespect isn't worth it.  

Again Zoo resorts to re-naming because there is no other creativity.  Thankfully the name is not the players full name, but "Wonderkid" isn't a good name either. 

Speaking of our Goats.  Get this crap.  I'm standing at Chimps and three people very close to me are talking.  I hear the guy on the end say, "... he's ugly"  They were standing in front of Cobby, so I was on the edge of livid.  Anyway, he then says, "Fat and blue eyes", making hand gestures I knew it wasn't Cobby, but I knew who he meant.  Once I saw a Staff name tag, I couldn't let it go. I had to confirm.  He walked away and I went after and light-heartedly asked him if he was talking about a Goat.  He laughed and said, "yeah, they named one after me".  I asked his name and he said Vitus.   Then he proceeded to direct me to the Farm.  I had never seen this guy or knew his position.  I asked around and was told he was the VP of HR.  All I can say is Wow!  It's shameful that an Employee of the Zoo would make fun of any Animal.  

Photo I made for a tweet.

Blaise is very Handsome!

That all said, there is other bad naming going on.  Even some Keepers give disrespectful names.  One of the Birds is named Cookie.  That was her name when she came here.  She got a mate, they named him Monster.  Awful.  Their babie is named Crumble.  There should be some guidelines, and names not given as jokes or in spite, as was also recently done.  Unconscionable!

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