(Image Source: Toronto Star)

BY ANLI XIAO

Supporters’ fight for gay marriage has even extended to the zoo. According to ABC News …

“A love story involving two male loves birds is about to end at the Toronto Zoo. Buddy and Pedro are about to be separated. They met back in May and it was a love at first sight and they are never apart and they even nest together at night. But zoo keepers are about to break up this pair so that they can breed with females as the species is on the brink of distinction.”

The zookeepers say it’s all for the penguins’ good. The African penguin population has dropped significantly over millions of centuries. The National Post quotes Tom Mason, curator of birds and invertebrates at the Toronto Zoo who explains Buddy and Pedro have the top-notch genes that might help recover their population.

“… the Toronto Zoo cannot afford to let a season go by without passing on the pair’s genes. ‘If [Pedro and Buddy] weren’t genetically important, then we’d let them do their thing.’”

And, it might not be as hard as we humans think.

“The two girls have been following them; we just have to get the boys interested in looking at them.”

But ABC says it’s still hard for them to mate. Penguins are relatively picky to begin with. Bill Rapley, the  zoo’s executive director of conservation and wildlife was quoted saying…

“… what can be kind of tricky is getting them to accept the mate you want them to have … You can imagine if you’re going to invest so much time and energy in a chick … you would be choosy [about your mate] in that situation.”

But a writer for Gawker is protesting the separation - looking at it from the gay perspective, headlining please -- “Don’t break up the gay penguins” …

“Gay people—and gay penguins—are sick of being exploited for our genes … the reason we're so attractive, intelligent, stylish, and gay is that we're so incredibly perfect that all this isn't meant to be passed on... They probably wouldn't have sex with a woman if they were the last penguins on earth anyway.”

The zoo says this separation will not last forever. After the breeding season, if Buddy and Pedro still love each other, they might still have a happy ending.