Last Feb. 22, a New York zoo owner was quite excited, and so were millions of people. He has just livestreamed one of the facility's giraffes about to give birth.
The day after, however, the zoo owner identified as Jordan Patch found himself livid because YouTube decided to shutter the giraffe cam. It turned out several animal rights activists complained that the content contains nudity and is too sexually explicit.
Controversial Giraffe Birth
Patch was forced to bring his case into the Animal Adventure Park's Facebook page, where he detailed how the live streaming amassed as much as 30 million viewers within 12 hours of broadcast.
He was not about to let things slide, however. In the video post, he informed viewers about the YouTube incident and blamed a handful of extremists and animal rights activists who hijacked the live streaming, raising a ruckus that must have driven YouTube's decision to shut the giraffe feed down.
The post earned a barrage of sympathetic responses especially given the fact that Patch underscored how the entire affair is supposed to be educational. The offshoot is that the zoo, particularly its Giraffe Family Fund, gained some more donors from indignant members of the public. You may be sure the bulk of supporters also came from onlookers excited to witness the birth of a new giraffe calf.
Private entities have also begun sponsoring expenses such as the case of Mazuri Exotic Animal Nutrition, which shouldered 100 pounds of April the giraffe's food for the duration of her labor. Once the baby giraffe is born, he will already stand 6 feet tall — long neck and all — and is expected to weigh 150 pounds. April, therefore, needs all the energy she can get.
Still Expecting
You will probably ask, what happened to the giraffe now?
Well, as of this writing, April the giraffe is still expecting, and Patch hopes she will breeze through the process having given birth three times already. She is also 15 years old.
The same might not be true about her mate Oliver, however. The bull is only five years old, and this is his first calf ever, so the entire business might be too much for his nerves. According to the zoo, he is being kept from the premises especially since giraffe bulls are purportedly known for two things only: fighting and the unmentionable.
If you are not an extremist and one who might appreciate the educational value of a birthing giraffe, the live streaming has been restored at YouTube last Feb. 23. The video sharing platform has already acknowledged the shutdown.
"With the massive volume of content on our site — 400 hours uploaded every minute — sometimes we make the wrong call," a YouTube spokesman said in a CNET report. "When it's brought to our attention that content has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it."
You can watch the live stream below:
