A popular live stream showing a much-loved giraffe giving birth at a zoo was briefly removed by YouTube for showing “nudity and sexual content.”
According to the owner of Animal Adventure Park in Harpusville, New York, “animal rights activists” falsely reported the video as a way to protest the captivity of the giraffe, who is named April.
Owner Jordan Patch told The Huffington Post: “The criticism is ironic because our animal collection is made up of rescues, surrenders, and some planned acquisition.”
YouTube eventually restored the video which was watched by tens of thousands of people online.
The zoo also addressed the video’s removal on Facebook live stream, claiming the giraffe’s filmed labor is an an educational tool, while silencing it discourages animal conservation.
“This is a perfect example of why we can’t have nice things,” Patch said in Facebook video. “To be a wildlife warrior, it’s not to fight the organizations that are working to help these animals, it’s actually to conserve their natural environments.”
He added: “I encourage the animal rights activists to get behind conservation. We’re all on the same team, we all want the best for these animals and we would love to have them in their natural environment again some day. But until we can control the destruction of natural habitat and curb poaching, that is not going to happen.”
Zoo owner Patch also told the site that after the live stream went viral, the staff saw posts by people urging others to sabotage the broadcast.
“Though we did not receive direct emails or messages, it was seen by us and many others in live feed comments from some of the many outlets sharing our Giraffe Cam,” he said.
One comment apparently read: “I live for the day your facility is shut down.”
This is the first time the zoo received such criticism. “We have a clean federal inspection report and our park has an excellent rating on Facebook and other travel platforms.”
The video showing a giraffe giving birth continued to be live streamed on other sites such as Facebook, after its brief removal on YouTube.
