What THE!! There is a conservation message here???? The usuual practise of shooting the biggest and strongest. How does hunting fitt in with the zoo? Is the zoo saying all these are from death by natural causes....
Conservation messages are not the only things that should be taken away from a visit at the zoo. Learning about the behaviors, adaptations, and habits of animals should be high on the priorities of education messages. A display like this, with the right signage, should demonstration the diversity found in ungulates.
Okapikpr is right. Plus there is nothing about this display (if you can call it that seeing as its not in a public area) that says "hunting" other than your own preconceived notions. Given San Diego's grand history of hoofstock keeping it is not hard to think that every single one of those died naturally in the collection (except the antlers may even be shed, it's hard to say I don't see any skull pieces attached) How is the message here any different than at the local Natural History museum? (where the display animals were "hunted" more often than not) And to reinforce okapikpr's point, zoos also have the responsiblity to teach things about animals beyond conservation messages, biology and anatomy are certainly not beyond their scope.
Now that I think about it, this display is high on a wall in an area that the tour bus currently goes through. It was most likely added as an educational element in a less interesting area of the tour. The buses had to be re-routed through this area because of E.O. construction. As Okapikpr said, it's not a trophy wall, but most likely meant to educate on the differences and variety of horns and antlers. With that said, antlers are shed every year anyway, so the antlers in this display wouldn't have come from dead animals.
zoomanWhat THE!! There is a conservation message here???? The usuual practise of shooting the biggest and strongest. How does hunting fitt in with the zoo? Is the zoo saying all these are from death by natural causes.... EXCUSE ME!! Are you not aware that hunting (when done properly) is a vital tool in managing game populations that otherwise would otherwise face massive dieoffs due to weather and starvation. Though its' true that some hunters do hunt for the biggest antlers, horns, etc, the overall majority of sportsmen responsibly hunt for food and spend quality time with their families. As for its' place in the zoo world, the pros and cons of hunting should be presented in a fair and balanced view so the general public can reach their own conclusion on the matter.
I don't want there to be another hunting debate started here, please. There are plenty of other threads already covering the subject.
Guess l just belive in a fair fight. The hunter with his gun against an animal is not!!! Where people get statistics that say "the overall majority of sportsmen responsibly hunt for food". How very unlikely.....
