Animal Euthanasia in Zoos

Animal Euthanasia in Zoos While zoos in the United States favor contraception as a means of keeping their resident populations under control, other zoos around the world take a different approach: euthanasia. Dave Morgan, chairman of the Population Management Committee at the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums explained to the New York Times that international guidelines on the ethics of breeding zoo animals are sketchy. Apparently, since ethics and philosophies are so diverse among countries of the world, its tough to make blanket regulations. For instance, both the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the African Association of Zoos and Aquaria generally consider routine euthanasia a viable management and breeding strategy, while the Central Zoo Authority of India has recommended that euthanasia of zoo animals may be carried out only in the specific circumstances when any animal is in such an agony or pain that it is cruel to keep him alive. How Euthanasia Is Used for Population Control Zoos that favor euthanasia over contraception generally allow animals to mate naturally and permit mothers to raise their young until an age at which the family groups would instinctively separate in the wild. At that point, zoo officials employ lethal injection to kill young animals that exceed the zoos carrying capacity, dont fit into breeding plans, and are unwanted by other zoos. In the spring of 2012, the Copenhagen Zoo euthanized a pair of leopard cubs who were approaching two years of age as part of their breeding management plan. Each year, the zoo puts approximately 25 healthy animals to death, including chimpanzees, whose similarities to humans make opponents of euthanasia particularly squeamish. Arguments in Favor of Euthanasia Contraception (pills, implants, injections) can pose health risks to animals.Euthanasia allows animals the natural experience of bearing young and parenting.Terry Maple, the former director of Zoo Atlanta and co-editor of Ethics on the Ark, knows of no definitive research that assesses the importance of raising young to animals health, but he has said that observation indicates that most zoo animals are motivated and protective parents that play frequently with offspring.Euthanasia imitates animals survival in the wild, where high percentages of young die early in life as a result of predation, starvation or injury.According to longtime zookeeper and curator Peter Dickinson, There is nothing wrong in killing an animal if it is done quickly and with forethought and kindness. When animals are euthanized for the correct reasons, then it is morally right and justified. The uninformed will often level accusations of being heartless and not caring when precisely the opposite is true. Good zoos with managed populations can see the bigger picture †¦ it is the species which is being managed and not individuals. Arguments Against Euthanasia Opponents of euthanasia suspect that the killing of adolescent animals is a convenient way for zoos to maintain a continual supply of their cutest inhabitants (babies), which draw crowds and generate more money.Contraception is a more humane way to limit populations while allowing animal family groups to coexist naturally.Cheryl Asa, director of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Wildlife Contraception Center at the St. Louis Zoo, does not believe that euthanasia is a feasible option for zoos in the United States. On an emotional level, I cant imagine doing it, and I cant imagine our culture accepting it, she said.Worldwide breeding networks and genetic planning can be used to avoid a surplus of offspring while still ensuring that many animals breed and raise offspring, claims Terry Maple, former director of Zoo Atlanta and co-editor of Ethics on the Ark. I am not saying management euthanasia is wrong. It is just not the best solution.Killing animals in zoos because they dont figu re into breeding plans is not euthanasia, its zoothanasia, and is a most disturbing and inhumane practice. Using the word euthanasia seems to sanitize the killing at least for some people and makes it more acceptable. While one might argue that many, if not all, animals in zoos suffer, killing animals who arent needed isnt mercy killing; its really a form of premeditated killing, argues Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Japanese Writing for Beginners

Japanese Writing for Beginners Writing might be one of the most difficult, but also fun, parts of learning Japanese. The Japanese dont use an alphabet. Instead, there are three types of scripts in Japanese: kanji, hiragana and katakana. The combination of all three is used for writing. Kanji Roughly speaking, kanji represents blocks of meaning (nouns, stems of adjectives and verbs). Kanji was brought over from China around 500 C.E. and thus are based on the style of written Chinese characters at that time. The pronunciation of kanji became a mixture of Japanese readings and Chinese readings. Some words are pronounced like the original Chinese reading. For those more familiar with Japanese, you might realize that kanji characters do not sound like their modern-day Chinese counterparts. This is because kanji pronunciation is not based on modern-day Chinese language, but the ancient Chinese spoken around 500 C.E.   In terms of pronouncing kanji, ththere are two different methods:  on-reading  and  kun-reading. On-reading (On-yomi) is the Chinese reading of a kanji character. It is based on the sound of the kanji character as pronounced by the Chinese at the time the character was introduced, and also from the  area  it was imported. Kun-reading (Kun-yomi) is the native Japanese reading associated with the meaning of the word. For a clearer distinction and an explanation of how to decide between on-reading and  kun-reading,  read what  is  On-reading and Kun-reading? Learning kanji can be intimidating as there are thousands of unique characters. Start building your vocabulary by learning the top 100 most common kanji characters used in Japanese newspapers. Being able to recognize frequently used characters in newspapers is a good introduction to practical words used every day.   Hiragana The other two scripts, hiragana and katakana, are both kana systems in Japanese. Kana system is a syllabic phonetic system similar to the alphabet. For both scripts, each character typically corresponds with one syllable. This is unlike kanji script, in which one character can be pronounced with more than one syllable.   Hiragana characters are used to express the grammatical relationship between words. Thus, hiragana is used as sentence  particles  and to inflect adjectives and verbs. Hiragana is also used to convey native Japanese words that do not have a kanji counterpart, or it is used as a simplified version of a complex kanji character. In order to emphasize style and tone in literature, hiragana can take the place of kanji in order to convey a more casual tone. Additionally, hiragana is used as a pronunciation guide to kanji characters. This reading aid system is called furigana. There are 46 characters in hiragana syllabary, consisting of 5 singular vowels, 40 consonant-vowel unions and 1 singular consonant. The curvy script of hiragana comes from the cursive style of Chinese calligraphy popular at the time when hiragana was first introduced to Japan. At first, hiragana was looked down upon by educated elites in Japan who continued to used only kanji. Consequently, hiragana first became popular in Japan among women as women were not granted the high levels of education available to men. Because of this history, hiragana is also referred to as onnade, or womens writing.   For tips on how to properly write hiragana, follow these stroke-by-stroke guides.   Katakana Like hiragana, katakana is a form of Japanese syllabary. Developed in 800 C.E. during the Heian period, katakana consists of 48 characters including 5 nucleus vowels, 42 core  syllabograms  and 1 coda consonant. Katakana is used transliterate foreign names, the names of foreign places and loan words of foreign origin. While kanji are borrowed words from ancient Chinese, katakana is used to transliterate modern-day Chinese words. This Japanese script is also used for onomatopoeia, the technical scientific name of animals and plants. Like italics or boldface in Western languages, katakana is used to create emphasis in a sentence.   In literature, katakana script can replace kanji or hiragana in order to emphasize a characters accent. For instance, if a foreigner or, like in manga, a robot is speaking in Japanese, their speech is often written in katakana. Now that you know what katakana is used for, you can learn how to write katakana script with these numbered stroke guides. General Tips If you want to learn Japanese writing, start with hiragana and katakana. Once you are comfortable with those two scripts, then you can begin to learn kanji. Hiragana and katakana are simpler than  kanji,  and have only 46 characters each. It is possible to write an entire Japanese sentence in hiragana. Many childrens books are written in hiragana only, and Japanese children start to read and write in hiragana before making an attempt to learn some of the two thousand kanji commonly used. Like most Asian languages, Japanese can be written vertically or horizontally. Read more about when one should write vertically versus horizontally.