Taking Sides

As I mentioned in my last post, euthanasia (or "zoothanasia" as some call it) is a population management strategy used by many of the world's zoos. 

A mother cheetah with cubs in the wild.

Photo by Siddharth Maheshwari (CC-BY-SA-3.0) / Wikimedia

In short, animals are allowed to breed and raise their young as per nature, but then the offspring are killed when they hit puberty.

Hard to imagine here in the U.S., where we often rally around the individual at all costs. Zoos in Europe, however, argue that euthanasia is a kinder approach to raising wildlife in captivity while maintaining the genetic integrity of entire species. 

Learn more about both sides of the dilemma HERE.

What would the Pope say?

Have you ever considered how zoos keep their resident populations in check? 

I doubt you have, but now you're thinking about it, aren't you?

Ah, young love ... cheetahs at the Houston Zoo.

Photo by Karamash [CC-BY-3.0] / Wikimedia

As it turns out, zoo animals are on birth control. Yep. Pills, implants, injections, you name it. 

It's the zoos' way of allowing family groups to coexist without the risk of inbreeding or ending up with too many offspring. 

Stray tiger cubs? Grizzly bears? Komodo dragons? Nobody wants that. 

In Europe, zoos favor euthanasia as a means of population control, but that's another blog post. 

In the meantime, you can learn more about the science of contraception for conservation HERE.