Feb 122012
To prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce aggression among the goats in the walk-in contact area the young males were routinely castrated. One year a new method was used: elastic bands placed on the base of the scrotum. The bands cut off circulation and the entire scrotum simply atrophied and fell off. Although this sounds horrible, it was supposedly a fairly painless method.
None of the keepers, however, could recall ever finding one of the scrotums. It’s possible that they were swept up unnoticed during the regular cleaning, but keepers always wondered if it wasn’t possible that some lucky children took home special souvenirs of their trip to the zoo.