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German Zoo Names Crocodile After Cuban Dictator
Fidel is one of seven Cuban crocodiles - an endangered species - to have hatched in Hoyerswerda zoo last August. Zookeepers opted to give the hatchlings names associated with their traditional homeland.
“We were simply looking for names which you immediately associate with their homeland of Cuba,” said director of the zoo in formerly Communist East Germany Carmen Lötsch. “Nobody intended it to be a direct reference to dictator Fidel Castro or indeed a glorification of him as a person,” she said.
Fidel the crocodile was destined for a life in the limelight, however, as he soon gained notoriety for his aggressive behavior towards his siblings, whom he would regularly attack and bite.
These misdemeanors earned him the nickname “Castro” in some circles. “But that really refers most of all to the critical aspects of Fidel Castro as a person, so one can really not be accused of in any way trivializing these actions,” said Lötsch.
However a committee tasked with allocating cultural funding in the region, did not share that view, claiming the crocodile’s name was not consistent with its guidelines.
http://www.thelocal.de/20131113/crocodile-name-changed-for-political-reasons
“We were simply looking for names which you immediately associate with their homeland of Cuba,” said director of the zoo in formerly Communist East Germany Carmen Lötsch. “Nobody intended it to be a direct reference to dictator Fidel Castro or indeed a glorification of him as a person,” she said.
Fidel the crocodile was destined for a life in the limelight, however, as he soon gained notoriety for his aggressive behavior towards his siblings, whom he would regularly attack and bite.
These misdemeanors earned him the nickname “Castro” in some circles. “But that really refers most of all to the critical aspects of Fidel Castro as a person, so one can really not be accused of in any way trivializing these actions,” said Lötsch.
However a committee tasked with allocating cultural funding in the region, did not share that view, claiming the crocodile’s name was not consistent with its guidelines.
http://www.thelocal.de/20131113/crocodile-name-changed-for-political-reasons
