Gay vulture uproar!

A decision to separate a pair of nesting male Griphon Vultures by a German zoo in an attempt to get them to mate with females has attracted protests from members of Germany’s GLBT community.

The pair, named Guido and Detlef, were housed together with other vultures in an enclosure at the Allwetterzoo in Munster when they caught each others’ eye and began building a nest together and grooming each other in March this year.

Zoo staff removed Guido from the enclosure earlier this month and swapped him with a bird flown in from a Czech zoo. Detlef is yet to show any attention towards the female bird, and neither has Guido who has been placed with another female back in the Czech Republic.

Curator of the Allwetterzoo, Dirk Wewers, dismissed complaints about the decision by saying, “They weren’t happy as a gay couple anyway – the other vultures picked on them and stole their nest materials.”

A group of German GLBT activists have held a protest outside the zoo.

This is not the first time gay Griphon Vultures have made the news.

Ten years ago another pair of male Griphon Vultures made headlines in Israel when they paired up together and made a nest.

Staff at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo eventually gave the pair an artificial egg which they took turns to incubate for 45 days. The zoo then replaced the egg with a baby vulture which the two successfully raised together.