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.  To my knowledge only 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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Blogger's Statement
"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."
For Full Statement see this post:
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html
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Happy New Year! ... Sadly Not at Krefeld Zoo.

I had planned to use my opportunity for extended time at home over this Holiday to finish many posts.  Who knows if I would have been productive by now, but I have certainly been disabled by the tragedy at Krefeld Zoo since the moment I heard about it.

For those who don't know, the Monkey House at Krefeld Zoo in Germany, fell victim to a fire in the early hours of New Years Day.

It was 11:40p here and I was trying to stay awake to see in our new decade.  Thinking of things I needed to accomplish, and of how surreal the year 2020 sounds.  Then I read the news.  First reports that all Residents of the Monkey House had perished.  My insides immediately felt heavy and tears started flowing.  The same feeling would have overtook me had there been a single Soul lost, but the final number of lives lost, is now Thirty.  Thankfully there were two survivors.  

The two Chimpanzees who survived this horror, lost their friend.  Probably watched as he was either burnt alive or succumbed to smoke inhalation.  The family of five Orangutans, included an infant, whose Mother was probably trying to comfort and save her babie.  Two Gorilla's, who lived through being taken from their wild families decades ago, only to die this way.   These are just the Great Apes who lost their Lives.  Dozens of other poor Souls, spent their final moments in fear, trapped in cages, not being able to escape.  The images that I've created in my mind of all these precious Beings desperation to stay alive, has been hard to shake. 

As the minutes ticked on, I read that the possible cause was Fireworks. It was now midnight and several backyards over from my Richmond District home, I can hear, illegal Fireworks being set-off, and see bursts of light from them.  I was so enraged, as I am every July 4th and every New Years Eve that this happens.  I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but they are illegal for a reason.  They are a potential hazard.  In that moment the audacity was too much. For many reasons I am sick of people.  I'm sick of the self-entitled.  People who do whatever they want, with no regard for those around them.  This is another example of that mentality.  The City of San Francisco puts on a display at the waterfront.  Go there.  I mean seriously people don't even have the sense to do this shit at the beach, if they want to be reckless. ... It has been confirmed that Sky Lanterns, illegal in Germany were the cause.

It has also been reported that the Monkey House structure had no Sprinkler System.  It has not been reported Why.  It has not been reported whether not having them went against any EAZA accreditation guidelines, or government ordinances.  I do not know for fact, but would hope our AZA has a guideline for that.  It would seem, any space where there are lives that are confined, should at least have some sort of emergency help system. 

There has been no comment by the EAZA.  The WAZA posted condolences to their Facebook page.  In a search, only one other Zoo (in the world?) posted condolences.  I hope there were others, because its shameful that a community would not have any caring words for their peers and what has befallen on them. 

Lastly I want to include two other tragedies.  Admittedly, I sometimes tend to shut out reading about sad things, because there is so much of it, and sometimes I just can't.  After seeing a sad video, I read only one article about the tragedy last month at African Safari Wildlife Park in Ohio, who had ten of their Residents perish in a barn fire.  I have also, until the last couple days, passed up most of the sad photos of victims from the tragic situation that continues in Australia, where it is now reported that over 500 million Animal lives has been lost.  It being 2020 isn't nearly as surreal as that number of Wildlife lost. 

All documentation of these events are heartbreaking and horrific.  I can't imagine how people are dealing with seeing this first hand, especially those who cared for and knew the captive Animals affected.  To all of them, I am sorry for your loss.  It is heartbreaking from a afar, it would be unbearable to be close to.

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Blogger's Statement

"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."

For Full Statement see this post:

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html

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Francois Langur Babie! - Born November 19, 2014!

I just realized I missed posting about the birth of the latest Francois Langur Monkey!  Good Grief!  I apologize to the Langur Family.  Congratulations Jing Jing and Issac!

I have been visiting and watching this Babie since it was born on November 19th, I just haven't posted. Looking back, I see that I was busy posting about the Gorilla Tragedy, and then the Chimp situation.  I feel awful.

I will add in some photos soon!

I have to look through my pix for a good one, this Babie moves around super quik!  ... Here is a video I took last Wednesday, you can see how fast he is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00qRG6l4AeQ

The Babie Langur, who was named Chan by his Keeper Dave, just turned four months old.  He was born to Mama Jiang Jiang and Papa Issac.  Jiang Jiang (and I hope I'm spelling it right, I'm going from memory) was born at the Zoo five years ago.  So, Babie Chan is a third generation SFZoo Langur! Mama's Sister Kathleen also lives in this Family Group and helps "mother" Chan.  She has a breeding recommendation with Issac as well. 

Mandrills Get Glassed! - Success!

Oh I was doing a happy dance when I spied this outside the Mandrills on Monday!

Yes! THAT would be glass!  Finally!  I've only been posting about this particular Exhibit for over a year.  This Exhibit and that of the Male Anteater, are notorious for Barrier Breaching.  It never fails, EVERY visit, there is more than one Visitor hanging over the Barrier at both these Exhibits.  

I'm actually pretty surprised by this and wonder what made them move on this finally?  Did something happen?  Was it all my blogging?  Doesn't matter, as long as it got done!  Just wish it didn't take the Zoo so long to move on things, especially ones of a safety nature.  

This all said, I wait for the finished product, as there is also open air access from the upper level. Will that too be glassed in?  I hope so.  But, I'm still waiting for the other two landings at the Gorillas to be glassed in.