The Saga of Stanley

With wildfires raging across California, it's only natural that my thoughts turn to the zoos that are in the path of danger, as well as my friends and colleagues who work there.  Not all of the animals under threat of fire are at major zoos and aquariums, however.  There are countless pets, native wildlife, and livestock affected by the natural disaster, along with a few unexpected creatures.  Such as a particular giraffe, named Stanley.

Stanley, a local celebrity who has a guest-star role in The Hangover Part III among other honors, is a resident of the Malibu Wine Safari, a vineyard tourist attraction in southern California.  He shares his home with camels, zebras, bison, llamas, and a host of domestic animals.  When the fires approached, the staff at Malibu decided that moving the eighteen-foot tall ungulate was impractical.  Instead, he and other animals were corralled in an area where it was deemed safer - mostly because there was nothing to burn - and he and some caretakers rode out the inferno.  When the flames passed, Stanley was still standing.

You'd think this would be universally regarded as a happy ending.  You would be wrong.

Stanley's caretakers and owners are being slammed on social media by folks for not having evacuated the animal and therefore having, in their eyes, abandoned him or left him for dead.

Now, I had never heard of Malibu Wine Safaris before this incident.  I have no position on it in general, as long as the animals are well cared for and treated humanely.  I do get irked, however, by people on social media spouting off on things they know nothing about.  Moving a giraffe is not easy.  It's really not.  It takes specialized equipment and training, and if you think that in the middle of a fire you're going to get a giraffe that's never voluntarily done this before to load, you've got another thing coming.  That other thing, incidentally, will probably end up being a dead giraffe, as they panic easily, and when they panic they run and fall, and when they fall... well, that's a lot of leg or neck they can break...

Today the criticism is being lobbed at the tourist attraction with a few head of exotics.  It could have just as easily been the Los Angeles Zoo.  Sure, they evacuated some animals... but no one was packing up their elephants and hippos to send to a safer location.  Sometimes - oftentimes, really, when it comes to large animals - the safest thing to do is shelter in place.

So now that the fires have passed, and now that we all now that Stanley is alive and well, and now that we've heard the explanations from Malibu Wine Safaris, I would like to make one final request of the internet... let's all move along now, shall we?  We can all find something new to be outraged about next week.