Danish zoo kills healthy giraffe, feeds body to lions

[davidpdx]

Last edited Tue Feb 11, 2014, 01:59 AM - Edit history (1)

An online petition to save a healthy young giraffe from death has failed, despite thousands of signatures from animal lovers.
Copenhagen Zoo said it euthanized the male, named Marius, on Sunday because of a duty to avoid inbreeding.

After an autopsy, "Marius" was dismembered in front of a zoo audience that included children, and fed to the zoo's lions.

*snip*

Marius was killed by a bolt gun, not a lethal injection, which would contaminate the meat.

The carcass was used partly for research and partly to feed carnivores at the zoo -- lions, tigers, and leopards.
"In this case we would never throw away 200 kilograms of meat," Holst said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/09/world/europe/denmark-zoo-giraffe/

The lions were fed the meat in front of children. Truly gruesome. Edit: The area was closed off and warnings were posted.

Edit: For balance I am adding the interview with the zoo's direct that was on NPR that can either be read or listened to:

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/10/274785904/official-on-killed-giraffe-he-didnt-fit-into-the-whole-puzzle

[RKP5637]

1. Humans can be quite vile! nt/

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. look up "lions kill giraffe" on youtube. Lions can be quite vile too

and I think the giraffes in nature suffer a wee bit more than Marius.

P.S. In Les Miserables, Marius is the only one who lives. Here, he's the only one who dies.

[RKP5637]

5. I've never realty understood all of the cruelty in life. n/t

[Pretzel_Warrior]

6. makes one think there's no benevolent force guiding it all, eh?

[RKP5637]

14. Nope! I've never even remotely thought there was any benevolent guiding force, and

if so ... has a really warped sense of humor. That's what always gets me about the faithful, they suffer grave travesties while praying to their god, and after it's over go back and pray some more. Like WTF!

[UncleMuscles]

27. hunger/survival

[RKP5637]

8. Did it, so gross, so cruel. n/t

[Pretzel_Warrior]

10. yep. if you want to be disturbed by the brutish and violence of nature, just google all that

Lion pride killing a baby elephant in dead of night, etc. etc. total bummer.

[Demo_Chris]

2. Lions do that sort of thing. nt

[niyad]

4. they turned this into a tourist attraction? dismembered the giraffe in front of

an audience? beyond obscene. shame on the zoo, shame on the watchers, especially the parents who brought their children.

I really do not care if lions kill giraffes in the wild. we are supposed to be somewhat civilized, although I truly have my doubts.

to prevent inbreeding? why in the HELL did they not just send this poor giraffe to another zoo?

on the other hand, why do we have zoos in the first place?

[Pretzel_Warrior]

7. you need to read or listen to the actual report on what happened

and not jump to conclusions. The science director of Copenhagen Zoo was on All Things Considered and did a pretty good job of explaining why they rejected some of the options that have been mentioned.

The autopsy/dismemberment of the giraffe did not take place in an open exhibit area. You had to pass an area where you knew what you were getting yourself into.

[niyad]

9. this part seemed pretty damned clear:

After an autopsy, "Marius" was dismembered in front of a zoo audience that included children, and fed to the zoo's lions.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

11. those parents chose to bring the children...and the children were interested and asking questions

again...maybe go to the source instead of the outrage machine.

[niyad]

32. you can keep twisting and trying to defend this all you want. the whole

situation was shameful and disgusting.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

37. ok. that is your opinion. not shared by everyone.

[niyad]

41. clearly shared by a good number of people, including here, and the thousands

who petitioned for maurius' life, and now for the job of that man who ordered him killed.

but keep pretending. I can really use the laughs.

[arthritisR_US]

15. They showed it on our National news last night,

for a closed area it was sure open and the horror on some of the kids faces and the tears...I don't buy what they are selling, sorry mate.

[JanMichael]

19. Hey, "meat" is ugly before it's prettied up

for Americans. Of course the kids cried; wonder how hard American kids would cry if they could see where theirs comes from.

It's life, and it's food. It's not attractive.

[davidpdx]

18. I've added the NPR article

It does sound like the area was closed off with a warning. I still choose to go with Jack Hannah on the killing as being unnecessary.

[arthritisR_US]

20. This is one of the few times I agree with Jack. By the way,

it was OmahaSteve but I can't post the link on my IPhone because I'm stupid, but it's no big deal on the dupe because this is something I think needs exposure. Just wanted to give you the heads up

[Nuclear Unicorn]

44. The zoo didn't want Russia to skate too easily to take the Gold in the 2014 Asshole Olympics n/t

[arthritisR_US]

12. Dupe. nt

[blkmusclmachine]

13. BOO!!

[JanMichael]

16. If you had a hamburger, steak or chicken breast this week

I fail to see the difference.

The giraffe was killed humanely, did not suffer, and the meat was put to good use.

The kids? So what? They saw where meat comes from; it was a good learning experience. Perhaps if adults were forced to spend a day working in a meat processing plant here, they wouldn't be so cavalier about their food.

[cui bono]

21. True. And the giraffe lived a better life than our factory farmed cows and chickens, even in a zoo.

That said, I don't agree with having zoos.

[MMcGuire]

26. I copied and pasted from another reply I made.

I'd personally prefer to see animals not in zoos even less so in circuses. However due to humans being "sanitized" and as for going out in the wild we'd be on the endangered list. For me its about us having contact with animals, its hard enough to get people interested in endangered animals that they come into contact with never mind animals that they have not touched or seen. No further proof is needed that our most loved animals are the ones we share a space with (Cats, Dogs etc).

[MMcGuire]

23. To be truthful

If I had to kill my food, I'd be only eating veg by now. Never used to bother me, but as I age it does.

[gopiscrap]

34. welcome to DU

[MMcGuire]

39. Cheers

[2naSalit]

22. This is one of the

problems with keeping wildlife in zoos. There is an issue with genetic integrity after a time... and this was one of the issues here as well as the issue of what the giraffe would have faced as a lifestyle had he been "sold". He would have faced a life of abuse and misery... then what would you say about that when you found that the zoo sold him and he ended up in a really bad place and nobody could do much about it?

In the wild, predators may be seen by us as brutal and whatever else you want to call them but they have a purpose which is to ensure the genetic integrity of their prey. What nutrition the predators gain from eating their prey is a result of the integrity of the genetics of their food, just like ours. If you eat GMO "food" how much nutritional value do you think it would offer you compared to the same food item that was untainted by modification? It's the same concept here.

Some are truly sad about this but the world many of us live in has become "sanitized" for our convenience.

This wasn't a flip the coin snap decision.

I wish there were no such thing as zoos and circuses.

[MMcGuire]

24. Playing devils advocate here

I'd personally prefer to see animals not in zoos even less so in circuses. However due to humans being "sanitized" and as for going out in the wild we'd be on the endangered list. For me its about us having contact with animals, its hard enough to get people interested in endangered animals that they come into contact with never mind animals that they have not touched or seen. No further proof is needed that our most loved animals are the ones we share a space with (Cats, Dogs etc).

[2naSalit]

40. Hmmm

I've heard that before from several but I would respond with: re-read the second sentence in your comment, it's the fact that we (humans) are not subject to the natural process of population control that is at issue to begin with. I think the basis of our "species-centrism" (as I like to call the hubris we comfort ourselves with) which we take as carte blanche to manipulate the lives of all other species and see them as exhibits and specimens is a big problem... rather than accept other species as integral elements of life from humans to everything else. We seem to have lost that respect for everything else.

We rarely give pause to other species' feelings and thoughts, they have them we just choose to ignore them so that we can claim some kind of superiority over them because... opposable thumbs and all that. Why is it okay to kill some animals and not others? Why do we call some species evil and others cutsie terms like bambi? Why do we think it's okay to cage other species so we can have the luxury of "seeing" them and then move on to the next enclosure? All this while giving little or no consideration as to how they were acquired to be put in these cages in the first place and how they might feel about that and how it feels to be separated from their familial groups.

If we lived naturally we would be prey to some and predators to others. Too bad humans had to go an mess that all up, otherwise many of the environmental problems we face that are likely to kill us all wouldn't have come about.

My devil's advocate argument.

Some food for thought...

[MMcGuire]

42. There is not much I disagree with here.

Last edited Sun Feb 16, 2014, 06:50 AM - Edit history (1)

But I'm more concerned with how to engage people, and instill a interest and study in endangered/non-endangered animals. The Zoo issue is more of an animal welfare issue. Edinburgh Zoo refuses to have Elephants due to welfare issues. Certain animals in captivity do show signs of stress due to captivity but once again comes down to welfare issues. Most modern Zoos do put welfare concerns to the forefront of their animal husbandry.


The moral argument of whether animals belong in captivity is a no brain-er. They don't. But its hard to dispute that research with or without captivity has improved conservation through breeding and scientific understanding. A good example would be associations working to save the endangered Scottish wildcat.

http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/
http://www.highlandtiger.com/index.asp

[2naSalit]

43. Indeed, engagement and education

of people is the challenge.

I never knew about these cats, the Highland tiger! What a beautiful animal!

And I can see that there are many issues with domestic breeds mixing and creating a hybrid problem. that is one of the larger issues with the Red Wolf of the east coast, they interbreed with coyotes which isn't a good thing for those involved in trying to revive an endangered species. Plus the coyote hunts, including at night, where the locals go out and shoot at what they think is a coyote but s actually a red wolf. There has been a robust program in the one of the Carolinas, North I think, for about fifteen or so years to regenerate the population but there have been numerous set backs of a variety of types.

Thanks for this video, I learned something there. I do hope the efforts to regenerate that population will succeed.

[MMcGuire]

46. The Scottish Wild Cat or in Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) Cat-fiadhaich.

Is a very endangered animal for the cat family, very close to the moggy that people keep in their homes. This is where neutering plays a big part in protecting cat-fiadhaich a native cat of Scotland. Also important to our history, myths and legends as many Gaelic/Pictish peoples honored the animal. Cataibh means 'land of the cat' and as a name of a tribe. Morair Chat 'Great man of the cats' (Duke of Sunderland)(personally the was nothing great about him) . Mackintosh, and Clan MacGillivray are some notable clans that used the cats fighting spirit in their crests. Or legend of a fairy cat, cat Sìth.

[2naSalit]

47. Amazing

and beautiful!

Hate to see it in a cage though.

Thanks for the information, this is something I will be looking into more, when I have time to get it together with some research.

[SoCalDem]

25. I think many zoos with money problems may see this as an "option"

For decades, zoos have focused on breeding, but every animal born either needs to find a home at another zoo, are added the the originating zoo population (and then cost money to feed)... or some may be reserved for "food" for carnivores

What they did was shameful, and to use ANY of it for spectator viewing, was atrocious

[democratisphere]

28. BARBARIC!

[Amaya]

29. First off they didn't "euthanize" Marius

They killed him for meat and entertainment purposes. Other zoos offered to take him.
They could have neutered him... Bengt Holst is a piece of shit and wanted Marius dead.

[justiceischeap]

30. Yeah, generally you don't "euthanize" healthy animals.

This situation is whack. On one hand, I can see the good in zoos (saving species that are going extinct) but mostly I see them as all bad. Especially when you read something like this.

[NCTraveler]

31. Mother nature can be extremely barbaric.

Trying to recreate mother nature for our own amusement can have the same effect.

[niyad]

33. marius

[Crepuscular]

35. Whether or not

you agree with the underlying decision to kill the Giraffe, once that decision had been made, there was nothing wrong with the method used and the resulting use of the meat. The animal was killed humanely and it's remains were put to good use, much better then simply dumping it in a landfill. Believe it or not, kids or even adults will not be scarred by watching an animal being skinned and butchered, it happens millions of times a year in this country and in others around the world and it can be a great learning opportunity, as seems to be the case in this instance.

[Sheldon Cooper]

36. If they knew his genetic makeup would be incompatible with breeding, per EU regulations,

why did they let his parents breed him in the first place? Was he killed because he's male? If he'd been a female, would she have been allowed to live and breed? Are all male offspring of the giraffes in this zoo now doomed to death?

What am I missing here?

[Chathamization]

45. I'm sure the meat they normally use to feed the lions is donated by the animals

Just like the meat that people normally eat. I don't like seeing animals killed, but factory farming is much, much more inhumane, both in terms of the raw numbers and in terms of the conditions.