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[Darren Ellis <dellis AT pcauthority.com.au>]

Title: Message

http://smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/30/1035683474396.html

Unionists in gorilla row

By Philip Cornford
October 31 2002

"It was too bloody dangerous, what if he woke up?" Photo: Tanya Lake

Kibabu the gorilla's inability to produce offspring has become an embarrassing industrial issue for Taronga Zoo.

The zoo management's proposal for an artificial insemination program using manual stimulation of the sedated gorilla was vetoed by zookeepers.

"It was too bloody dangerous," a zookeeper said last night. "What if he woke up?"

Red-faced Taronga officials confirmed that the masturbation program had been proposed last May, but said there had been no further attempt to employ it.

"I believe it's done in Europe," a spokesman said. "There's been a lot of discussion on how to get semen from Kibabu for artificial insemination of females."

Instead, Kibabu - whose harem numbers three adult and two juvenile females - probably will be stimulated by an electrical device in a process called electro-ejaculation.

The gorilla has not impregnated any of the females since the group came to Taronga from Holland in 1996. The two other males, both juveniles, are no help.

Kibabu's failure emerged yesterday as about 350 zoo staff planned to stop work at 2pm tomorrow to discuss workplace agreement issues, including wages, working hours, stress and job-related risks.

"We've got 12 of 90 zookeepers on light duties or receiving worker's compensation because of injuries sustained on the job," said a Public Service Association industrial officer, Stewart Little.

"A rhino, a giraffe gets pregnant, the zookeepers sit up nursing them all night - for not a cent extra pay. But the moment they ask for more flexible hours, management refuses to talk."

The union also claimed zookeepers had not had adequate protection from rattlesnake bites since the expiration of the use-by date on a batch of antivenene three months ago.

But the zoo spokesman said the antivenene was 90 per cent effective and WorkCover had agreed to its use until a new product was evaluated.

"A slightly increased dose will compensate for any drop in potency," he said. "We've instituted barrier methods which reduce handling of the rattlesnakes to a minimum."

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