The Political Thread

[ZenArcade]

Dudley, I agree therein is the rub. I am not, I hope, being deliberately contentious. As I said before we are in a situation today where the levers of influence and control have been stolen away from us over the past 2 decades. Like many others on this thread and I guess like many others in the civilised world we realise we are in a situation where we are essentially denuded of the mechanisms whereby this control can be legitimately wrested back. I can see with a fear filled heart others of a less democratic nature greedily filling this vacuum in the years to come.
My previous posts have possibly been something of a cathartic rant, but in the words Dylan Thomas 'do not go gentle into that good night'.

[The Legendary Shark]

I did know what you meant, JBC, I was just being silly to poke fun at the idea that resources belong to whomever's land they happen to be on. Sounds good in theory but in practice resources belong to whomever has the biggest stick.

[TordelBack]

My previous posts have possibly been something of a cathartic rant...

That is why this thread exists.  So that we can unburden ourselves of concerns political without scaring the horses or dragging thread after thread into the middle-aged comics fan version of a flame war.

[The Legendary Shark]

Harvard study indicates that fluoridated water damages the developing brains of children.

[Hawkmumbler]

I am so, so fed up of people up in arm's over the shooting of a Giraffe at Copenhagen zoo. People are jumping on the bandwagon, calling conservationists elitists and monsters. I just want to get some facts straight. One, the creature was an inbreed. A freak accident that occurred without the keepers knowing. Two, due to this defect it was suffering from chronic depression was refusing to eat, it would have died in a matter of days. Three, conservationism and zoology is a thankless profession. No one ever acknowledges the hard work and lifetimes spent in caring for these animals and careful research and planing that goes into ensuring the survival of a species. So when one idiot decides to hold an execution of a IUCN LC tier species IN PUBLIC!, I would be vary grateful if no one ever affiliated me with said person.

Rant over.

[The Legendary Shark]

Yup. Kill a human and hardly anyone bats an eyelid - kill a cute animal and the whole world starts frothing.

[Ancient Otter]

I am so, so fed up of people up in arm's over the shooting of a Giraffe at Copenhagen zoo. People are jumping on the bandwagon, calling conservationists elitists and monsters. I just want to get some facts straight. One, the creature was an inbreed. A freak accident that occurred without the keepers knowing. Two, due to this defect it was suffering from chronic depression was refusing to eat, it would have died in a matter of days. Three, conservationism and zoology is a thankless profession. No one ever acknowledges the hard work and lifetimes spent in caring for these animals and careful research and planing that goes into ensuring the survival of a species. So when one idiot decides to hold an execution of a IUCN LC tier species IN PUBLIC!, I would be vary grateful if no one ever affiliated me with said person.

Rant over.

Interesting that you mention that the giraffe was inbred because I read two newspapers today that didn't mention that but said there was a risk of inbreeding if the giraffe was left live, no mention that it was depressed. But why not neuter the giraffe  or sell it to the people that wanted to buy it for their reserves/private zoo?

[Ancient Otter]

Whether it's an example of the essential impotence of the modern presidential role, or just confirmation that only a certain type of person can ever be elected, Obama has turned out to be more of the same, just better dressed.

Ever read The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman? There's a mention of Jimmy Carter, saying he looked so tired when he left the presidency as he didn't have the taste for blood required for the job. Obama personally approves targets for elimination for CIA drone strikes so I guess he the requirements: Huffington post link

I wonder how he feels about the collateral civilian deaths.

[Hawkmumbler]

@Otter
Been talking to a friend of mine (one of the UK's top Tetrapod zoologists) and he's positive the creature was screened before hand and had a close gene match to it's mother. The chronic depression was a quick reaction from on sight keepers, it's common for inbred mammals to exhibit low mood due to under developed brain function. This was deducted by the creatures general lack of appetite before and after weening.

[TordelBack]

Managing animals on anything beyond the domestic scale means killing certain animals.  Everyone involved in farming, animal welfare, zoos and conservation understands this (i.e. those people who put their money where their mouths are), but the rest of the general public can't see beyond the cosy world of pets and storybooks.

[ZenArcade]

S'true TordelBack, I come from a farming background (along the Tyrone/Monaghan border in NI). Animal welfare is at the heart of all we do. We preserve hedgerows, eschew chemical herbicides and generally work with the land and environment. It is sad that sometimes the decisions taken result in deaths of animals either as a commercial or welfare decision.
Still in all I do feel a degree of compassion for the poor auld Giraffe.

[Tombo]

Interesting that you mention that the giraffe was inbred because I read two newspapers today that didn't mention that but said there was a risk of inbreeding if the giraffe was left live, no mention that it was depressed. But why not neuter the giraffe  or sell it to the people that wanted to buy it for their reserves/private zoo?

I read somewhere that they couldn't pass the animal on to another zoo or park because none of the facilities that met international requirements re. welfare standards, breeding programmes etc. were able to take it due to been basically maxed out on their own giraffe population.  And at least the meat went to feeding animals rather than some upper class twits who could brag they'd eaten giraffe.

No point in neutering an animal if you're trying to develop a breeding programme of your own, why waste resources on an animal which wont be able to contribute it's genes.

I also heard that the stomach was sent of for analysis to see how the creature breaks down plant proteins with the idea been that scientists might develop better next-generation bio fuels (i.e. fuels from algae as well as plants not now considered suitable feed stocks) 

[The Legendary Shark]

How does Obama feel about killing? Turns out he thinks he's "really good at it."

[ZenArcade]

C'mon Tombo, your sinister post justifying the killing of that poor Giraffe is just the latest clandestine move in the Dragonfly led insect war against us mammals.

[Professor Bear]

As I understand it, the risk wasn't from the giraffe being inbred but the chance of it breeding with a close relative at some point in the future, as the number of giraffes in captivity in Europe is quite small and they didn't want to risk diluting the already limited pool of genes with any accidental inbreeding.

Call me old fashioned but I'd be far more worried if people weren't getting up in arms everytime someone who sounds a bit German tells you they had to euthanise to protect the purity of the European gene pool.