Zoo Kills Young Giraffe, Invites Children to Watch It Be Chopped Up, Fed to Lion

[jimmy olsen]

I'd be more comfortable with this if they just put the Giraffe in the Lion's den and let nature take its course.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/02/09/marius_danish_zoo_kils_young_giraffe_feeds_it_to_lions.html

Danish Zoo Kills Young Giraffe, Invites Children to Watch It Be Chopped Up, Fed to Lions

By Daniel Politi

A zoo in Copenhagen has sparked outrage after it ignored an intense online campaign and went ahead with its plan to kill Marius, a healthy 18-month-old giraffe. He was put down with a bolt gun Sunday as a crowd that included many small children looked on. Marius was then chopped up and fed to lions and other carnivores at the zoo. Officials at the zoo said that while they understood the protests, they had no choice because the giraffe was part of an international breeding program that prohibits inbreeding. Although he was healthy, his genes were already over-represented at the zoo, notes the AFP.

Although other zoos offered to take in Marius, and one person even offered to buy him, the zoo would only be able to transfer him to an institution that was part of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. Other alternatives, like contraceptives and neutering are considered cruel because they can have undesirable side effects, the zoo's scientific director, Bengt Holst, tells Time.
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After Marius was killed, technicians invited parents and their children to watch an autopsy that was performed for research purposes. Many watched the three-hour-long procedure from beginning to end, which to the zoo spokesman demonstrates that the institution fulfilled its goal of being a place of scientific knowledge, reports the Associated Press.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Would it have been less outrageous if they fed some anonymous cow from a giant farm to the lion?

[garbon]

Slate

[Phillip V]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/world/europe/anger-erupts-over-danish-zoos-decision-to-put-down-a-giraffe.html

[Josquius]

Did they play "The circle of life" from the lion king sound track as they did it?

[CountDeMoney]

Completely unnecessary, on a number of levels.

I didn't know "Marius" was a Jewish name.

[Ed Anger]

They watched Madagascar and realized how fucking annoying the giraffe character was.

[Neil]

I think I'll trust the scientists over a bunch of animal rights freaks.

[katmai]

They watched Madagascar and realized how fucking annoying the giraffe character was.

Anti Semite!

[Liep]

I don't see how this became a story, it's not like giraffes are endangered or that this one was special in any way other that it was an inbreeding hazard.

It did make me wonder how giraffe meat taste though.

[Eddie Teach]

It did make me wonder how giraffe meat taste though.

Anti Semite!

[Camerus]

I don't see how this became a story, it's not like giraffes are endangered or that this one was special in any way other that it was an inbreeding hazard.

It did make me wonder how giraffe meat taste though.

The weirdest thing that wasn't really explained in either piece was the presence of those little kids.  What kind of parent would bring their small child to the zoo so as to watch a giraffe get butchered?

[Legbiter]

I approve. I watched a few reindeer get gutted and hung up when I was 6 with grandfather. Circle of life.

[The Larch]

I'm a bit torn on this (just like the giraffe, badum tsssh!). On the one hand, the guys running the breeding program have to take care of potential hazards down the line like inbreeding, and this particular individual seemed to be a risk for the program, so in a way they surely know better. On the other hand, I don't think that it would have been that difficult to find another zoo willing to take the animal, and their "nah, it was not worth it" answer seems insensitive on the zoo management's part and makes me guess that they didn't really make an effort on that front.

Regarding the decission to sacrifice the giraffe and disecting it in front of schoolchildren, it seems overkill IMO. If they really wanted to use it as an educational tool, an older audience would have been more appropriate, like high school kids, or veterinary school students. If you want to slaughter an animal for educational purposes to kids that young a normal cow or pig would be just as enlightening in a "this is where your food comes from" and far less an spectacle.

[grumbler]

I'd be more comfortable with this if they just put the Giraffe in the Lion's den and let nature take its course.

It's a freakin' zoo.  Not much chance that "nature" can "take its course" in a zoo.  If, by "let nature take its course," you mean that you would have been more comfortable if the giraffe suffered more before it died, I disagree.