Culling - Page 1

Culling is the process of removing animals from a group based on specific criteria. This is done in order to either reinforce certain desirable characteristics or to remove certain undesirable characteristics from the group. For livestock and wildlife, the process of culling usually implies the killing of animals with undesirable characteristics.

Culling The rejection or removal of inferior individuals from breeding. The act of selective breeding. As used in the practice of breeding pedigree cats, this refers to the practice of spaying or neutering a kitten or cat that does not measure up to the show standard (or other standard being applied) for that breed. In no way does culling, as used by responsible breeders, signify the killing of healthy kittens or cats if they fail to meet the applicable standard."
Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, Fourth Edition

So we all know it happens but how common is it?
As owners, breeders and people of interest what are your views on culling? Spaying or Neutering will do the trick just as much, would it not?

Not really, it won,t do the same. If you have a genetic defect you bring into the mix a weaker or none desirable individual animal. And your target market is already awash in these healthy animals and with todays economical environment it isn,t responsible to allow the strain on funds...I know that sounds heartless and could I cull pups from a litter? It happens and I understand why. Nature does it her self for the same reasons.

It's p*ta-speak, they're attempting to change over-all mind set.

Bob McKown - these are not the same reasosn though. Nature kills off the weak and the unhealthy. Culling isnt aimed at the weak and unhealthy but aimed at looks. Does the Star-nosed Mole or Blob Fish look attractive to you? No, but they have evolved like that cause it works well with their survival.

What do you call "inferior" then? Like it or not it happens. If a animal is born into a group and is inferior it won,t survive culled by nature.

"removal of inferior individuals from breeding" - I think the writer of that statement is referring to Inferior kittens being born in a litter of ideal show cats. Kittens which maybe have a colour fault which wont allow them to be shown. As the writer later goes on to say - "this refers to the practice of spaying or neutering a kitten or cat that does not measure up to the show standard (or other standard being applied) for that breed. In no way does culling, as used by responsible breeders, signify the killing of healthy kittens or cats if they fail to meet the applicable standard."

geordie

culling is culling regardless of the reason. 

Nature  kills off what is least fit to survive and reproduce. (yes I know that sounds like circular reasoning)
  In my opinion breeders shouldn't vary far from this. It is also my opinion that culling via death should be reserved only for puppies that are born with a legitimate health issue, (or if you magically know that this puppy is going to be a stark raving mad lunatic that wants nothing more than to attack small children)
It's one thing not to breed a dog because you don't like that it's tail has a black spot on it, another thing entirely to kill it off at birth.


@gsdtravels

My best friend is vegetarian, On a whim we went to go try out a vegan fast food place... I felt like I was standing in a Nazi convention with the last name of Goldstein...... They had P*TA proganda everywhere I even reconized the stickers they had were off of the website .... The people there were nice enough, but I will confess it took a great deal of self control not to stand on a chair and openly profess my love for cheese....

Geordi:

         It happens what else can I say. If my star nose moles were of inferior quality I,d undersatnd culling. If my blob fish(and you know how hard it is to find a reputible blob fish breeder anymore) were unimpressed with there school of blob fishes(?) i,m sure they would culled.

If your world revoloves around color,quality,conformity you will find culling. Look at what the greeks used to do with inferior children (atleast the 300 says so).    

Culling isn't just about looks though, nor the removal of undesirable traits - unless this quote very specific to a certain context/area you wish to focus on? e.g. what about hedgehogs culled in the Outer Hebrides as they were not native? Conservationists and Animal Rights people for example have different agendas. Conservationists cull because they love wildlife, not because they are murderers. For me, this is a huge topic. It is affected by cultural beliefs for example. An African may have a different opinion on culling elephants to a European. Sometimes it is about a difficult choice. Then there is the huge philosophical struggle - we are huamns talking about animals, and however strong our affinity, this does not preclude the reality that they are not human and we are. And the fact that we can cull, or kill for meat to eat..... does that mean that we love them any the less?

I've culled litters before and see nothing wrong with it. If there's an obvious problem with a pup, why let the poor creature linger on? Quality of life does mean something after all. A pup with hydrocephalus will die anyway. Severe cleft palates, mega -E, these dogs have life long problems.

I know a lady that's spent thousands of dollars having dental and reconstruction work done on a dog with a severe overbite and malformed lower jaw. The dog is constantly being put back on antibiotics because of chronic upper respiratory problems. He must eat a special diet and can't even drink water properly. The condition was obvious at birth, the pup couldn't nurse, so she hand raised it and kept him. I wouldn't have. I would have had the pup humanely euthanized. Personal opinion and that's all.

Spaying and neutering is a great tool but breeders don't spay/neuter 8 week old pups.  Dogs that are known to produce severe faults should be culled from a breeding program as in spayed or neutered or at the very least never bred again. If individual owners purchase a pet quality pup with an obvious fault, won't spay or neuter it and later on decide to breed it, there's not much a breeder can do about it. Very very  few breeders can afford to keep back pet quality pups just to have them spayed and neutered when mature.