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This is the same nightmare scenario we have here in
lovely Vancouver, BC Canada with our beluga and killer whales in captivity at
the Vancouver Aquarium. It would curl your hair. The sea mammals are
ultrasounded for "science" ---what does that do to their delicate sonar??
If not for the fact that the sea mammals are large and in water, I'm sure there
would be cesareans. As it is, the babies are born spontaneously (at least
vaginally although being contained in a small pool as opposed to an ocean has to
cramp the mother's style) but then the fun begins. The public is allowed
to come into the viewing area and great throngs show up to see the cute baby and
new mom trying to get together to breastfeed. Needless to say, the breast
feeding does not go well. They used to gavage feed the baby whale but
they always died of infection, so the scientists "discovered" that colostrum is
essential to baby whale survival. Now, the question arises, how to get
that precious colostrum into the baby's gut while still selling tickets to the
public???? Hmmmmmmmm. . . . they invented a whale breast pump. So,
the poor mother was lured into a "holding" pool, the water drained out of the
pool once she was captive, and the pump attached to her mammaries. The
colostrum was thus obtained and force fed to baby. Baby died
anyway----there's more to breastfeeding and colostrum than just the substance,
obviously. Peace, quiet, privacy and love seem to matter to whales,
too. I have it all on tape---videotaped the evening news every
night. All I could think was the words of Christ on the cross "Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do."
Gloria Lemay
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 2:59
PM
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] As if messing
with humans isn't enough..
It might be interesting for who ever wrote this to send a
letter to the orang u tan keeper at the zoo, When the Melbourne zoo gorilla
had a LUSCS a few years a go I ended up in quite a series of emails with the
gorilla keeper who was in fact keen to talk about what had happened and why
and to explore ways they could have handled it better next time. She in fact
very much led the dialogue asking questions about what she had observed and
what it might have meant. Asking the PR department at the zoo would be
equivilant to asking the PR department at a big hospital to describe why
things happen in labour ward. But ask the midwife and you'll get a very
different answer.
Andrea Quanchi
On 20/08/2005, at 3:34 PM,
Carolyn Hastie wrote:
FYI
Carolyn Hastie
<logo_h.gif>ICAN
E-News
Line
International
Cesarean Awareness Network
Volume
31
August
17 , 2005
Focus:
Eve and Araca
<enewshorse.gif>1.
Essay: Eve and Araca
Early
May in Utah usually brings a few warm days and this year was no exception.
We enjoyed a day trip to the zoo during this warm respite. Hogle Zoo isn’t
my favorite zoo, but the kids enjoy seeing the
animals.
Two weeks later –
on Mother’s Day- Eve, a female Orangutan, had a cesarean to deliver her
baby, Araca. When I first heard the news, I thought, “What else would you
expect to happen? You have an animal on the endangered species list,
pregnant. What zoo keeper is going to ‘risk’ that pregnancy and baby by
sitting on her hands and not doing anything? And ‘anything’ is enough to
slow an animal’s labor progress.” There were many articles in the following
weeks about the baby’s arrival. Strangely enough, I wasn’t upset by any of
them, until I happened to hear a radio ‘interview’ with one of the zoo
staff. The zoo keeper described the baby’s day, being cared for by the
staff, fed formula from a bottle and being held by staff in furry vests. The
radio host joked with her about the care of the baby, asking how the staff
avoided ‘getting messed on’. The zoo employee said, “We don’t diaper the
baby, we want to do everything natural with this little orangutan.”
Suddenly, I was so angry I couldn’t see straight. Here is Eve, whose birth
was denied her by staff, who now rejects her own baby. Here is a baby, whose
mother doesn’t recognize or claim her, being fed formula from humans, being
held by humans in furry vests and being shown off between the hours of 10
a.m. until 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. until 3 p.m. daily, and they have the
nerve to claim they are doing everything natural because the baby doesn’t
have a diaper on!
I don’t
know the details of Eve’s birth of her daughter. When called, the Zoo will
not give out any details. When asked questions like, “How did staff know Eve
was in labor? How long was she in labor? Was baby in distress at birth?”- no
answer is given. You and I most likely will never get the answers to these
questions or to the ultimate one they lead to, “Was the cesarean really
necessary?”
In the end, it
might matter if we knew and it might not. What I do know is that there is a
mother who does not know her baby and a baby who does not know her mother.
They did not get to bond after a natural birth. The baby never breast feed.
The baby has not learned to cuddle with her mother and, in turn, may not
mother her own babies naturally. Generations have been affected by this
cesarean, in a species that does not have generations to give to the nervous
human.
~
Pamela Udy, ICAN VP
A quick note: Hogle
Zoo itself admits the cesarean is the reason Eve does not recognize her
baby. Here is a blurb from their website:
Baby
Orangutan
The baby,
born Mother’s Day weekend by cesarean section, is slowly being introduced
to her mom. Because of the cesarean birth, Eve does not yet recognize the
baby as hers. The staff is doing slow introductions, in an off exhibit
area, to help mother and daughter bond.
http://hoglezoo.org/about/events/
http://www.hoglezoo.org/whats.new/
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