365gay.com, Feb. 8:
A German zoo is trying “to cure” three gay penguin couples using a form of aversion therapy. The Bremerhaven Zoo is splitting up the couples, and has imported four female penguins from Sweden which it will use to try to “turn” the penguins “straight”.
According to 365gay, New York has its own gay penguin couple, Roy and Silo — and a Japanese professor, Keisuke Ueda, has counted 20 same-sex pairs at 16 major aquariums and zoos.
Apparently, it looks like their attempt failed. It also appears that the same-sex penguin couples are extremely loyal to each other.
hmmm… the link didn’t work
here’s the story about the aversion therapy failiure:
https://www.365gay.com/newscon05/02/021105penguins.htm
Huh! I just now heard about (and posted) this! I’m so glad it’s failing, though. I’m all for new little penguins entering the world, but this was inhumane and tinged with homophobia.
I don’t have a serious problem with procreation being encouraged in endangered populations, provided the efforts don’t go so far as to make the animals emotionally or socially disturbed.
But compulsory procreation avoids addressing the causes of the species’ endangered status. Penguins are not dying out because of homosexuality. They are dying out because of vastly larger issues: overfishing, human development of their habitats, and global warming. Compulsory heterosexuality is a somewhat dubious treatment for the wrong illness.
I suppose artificial insemination hasn’t reached the penguin world.