Gay penguins shun
Swedish mates
ALJAZEERA.NET from
the Web, February 9, 2006
Six gay penguins at a German zoo
have continued their refusal to mate with females of the species flown in from
Sweden in 2005, zoo authorities say.
On Wednesday, Heike Kueck, the zoo's director, said the problem was that the
female Humboldt penguins have proven too shy in their advances.
Kueck said: "The Swedes will not make the first move."
The females were flown in last year in a bid to bring the males to mate and help
save the Humboldt species from extinction.
Kueck said last year she was optimistic the initiative would be successful
because zoo keepers had noticed that at one point a female penguin had managed
to cause a couple of males to "separate".
The Bremerhaven Zoo in northern Germany, has 10 male penguins of which six have
shown strong signs of preferring male company and formed couples among
themselves.
Gay rights
The initiative to "turn" the penguins and make them mate had prompted a furious
response from gay rights groups.
In a statement posted on its internet website, the zoo on Wednesday sought to
defend itself from fresh criticism.
The statement said: "We will be delighted if the penguins form even one
heterosexual couple and manage to produce first an egg, and then a little one.
"But of course we accept the male couples that have formed and we are not trying
to enforce heterosexuality, as we were accused of doing last year."
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