>A non-flying albatross from the North Pacific put in a zoo in Europe?
>Something wrong here.
>My view: It should not suffer a life without flight; put it in a museum.
>Cold-hearted?
>Black-footed Albatrosses, living life naturally, have brought me to tears.
>------------------------
>Scott Richardson

I told the woman who interviewed me about this bird for the Tacoma paper
that because an albatross was such a creature of the air (and I made it
clear I felt like Scott does), I thought it was much better off dead than
in a pen for the next 10 or 20 or 30 years. She quoted my milder statement
that I hoped they could find a mate for it. Later I thought more about
that and decided it was probably foolish, as albatrosses get along just
fine without mates for much of their lives (they mate at 8-10 years and
then take a 6-month vacation from their mate every year thereafter).

The next day I talked to Michael Ellis, the head of Olympic Wildlife
Rescue, who "saved" the bird. He said it was one of the friendliest birds
he'd seen, seemed to relate very well to other birds and people and was
getting along beautifully in captivity. He felt so good that they had
preserved its life.

Who can make the correct call?

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416