Today with the internet, it’s not uncommon to hear about people’s obsessions with a variety of things. Normally, it’s users who are obsessed with Facebook, social media, or people who are into online gaming that get hooked on these obsessions. Recently, there’s been a new craze that’s been circling the internet.
April is a 15-year-old pregnant giraffe that’s pulled in over 100,000 viewers at a time. The craze started when Animal Adventure Park, located in New York, put a giraffe cam on April for viewers to watch the birth for an educational purpose.
Local zoos like this usually expect their typical viewers to tune in and a few from further away. With April, it was a different story. The zoo put her camera up and announced that they would be live streaming the birth of her calf. When the news got to the media, it spread with headlines about how the giraffe was in active labor and she would give birth at any minute. However, all of these claims are untrue according to the zoo.
The real story is that Animal Adventure Park set up the giraffe cam before April was in labor and never actually made a statement that she was in labor. They have sent out several updates saying that they do not know when she will be in labor, but it will be soon. There is no way for the zoo to give people an exact date- that’s up to mother nature.
At Monmouth, there are several opportunities that take learning from the classroom and turn it into a real life experience. There are many opportunities for students to get internships or take experiential education courses that relate the work you do in class to the real world. Of course, these courses do include a little more work besides looking at a giraffe all day, they still educate us with a visual experience.
An issue with this giraffe craze is that people are taking advantage of others on the internet saying that they are the zoo and that they’re taking donations for April. The zoo never set up an actual Go Fund Me, but the imposter pages raised over $5,000. There are also other videos being posted of other giraffes giving birth claiming that they’re April and saying that she already had her baby.
There was a point where a group of zoo protesters began reporting the zoo to force them to stop the livestream, which caused the livestream to be shut down for a small amount of time. The purpose of this was because they do not believe that animals should be captive. Once the video was back up and running, the zoo reassured it’s viewers that April had more than enough attention and one of the biggest spaces provided to giraffes in the United States.
Animal Adventure Park began the livestream to educate and share the birth of their first giraffe calf, but it has exploded into thousands of people tuning in every day to check on April. The zoo provides two updates a day that allow people who cannot be watching all day to catch up and get an idea of when the baby will be born.
The zoo has explained that any and all donations will go to expansions and changes in the giraffe exhibit and help with the care and keeping of the animals. They’ve also taken advantage of their popularity by educating viewers not only on giraffes, but also on the importance in conservation of all animals.
The craze of a giraffe birth has taken over a portion of the internet and has drawn in huge crowds from all around the world.
What was meant to be a learning experience for those interested in giraffes, has turned into an obsession with waiting for April’s baby.
PHOTO TAKEN from The Inquisitor