10 February 2006 @ 3:10pm. “This ODD World” is my favorite section of The Jakarta Post. It usually features two short stories from around the world that are funny, controversial, or just plain make you think. One of today’s features on page 2 created quite a buzz in the office:
Title: ‘Gay’ penguins fend off female advances
BERLIN: Six gay penguins at a German zoo are still refusing to mate with females of the species flown in from Sweden in 2005, the zoo said Wednesday.
The zoo has 10 male penguins of which six have shown strong signs of preferring male company and formed couples among themselves.
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 sought to defend itself from fresh criticism.
“We will be delighted if the penguins form even one heterosexual couple and manage to produce first an egg, and then a little one,” it said.
“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.”
The problem is that the female Humboldt penguins have proven too shy in their advances, the director of the zoo in the northern port city of Bremerhaven said.
“The Swedes wil not make the first move,” Heike Kueck said. — AFP
