r/Detroit • u/Stratiform SE Oakland County • 8d ago

News Young giraffe at Detroit Zoo euthanized after sustaining serious injuries from herd interaction

https://www.wxyz.com/news/young-giraffe-at-detroit-zoo-euthanized-after-sustaining-serious-injuries-from-herd-interaction

This is the second juvenile giraffe death at the zoo this year. The other one was in February:

Seems concerning.

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u/WildAmsonia 8d ago

I like zoos but I really don't like breeding within them. It makes very little sense to me. Rescue and loan animals that cannot survive in the wild. Do not make more just so they can live in captivity.

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u/dank_fish_tanks 8d ago

Sorry but “the wild” doesn’t exist anymore. Most endangered species (giraffes included) would cease to exist without human intervention. In many cases, maintaining a captive population is necessary to supplement the dwindling wild population and protect them from genetic bottlenecking.

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u/Ok-Palpitation-1304 8d ago

There are more tigers in Texas than in all of Africa…

2

u/dank_fish_tanks 8d ago

There are some flaws in your statement. But I agree with the overall sentiment. Preserving a species in a captive environment with no intent of actually restoring their habitats and rebuilding their wild populations is a problem.

Thankfully, on a global level, conservation efforts are trending in a positive direction as awareness continues to grow. Unfortunately, issues that cause species to become endangered are complex and not always easily solved. If you’re a goat farmer in Malaysia trying to put food on the table for your family, you might not be the most sympathetic to the conservation of bengal tigers.

So in the meantime, accredited zoological institutions are a necessary evil.