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Zoo sparks outrage by killing healthy giraffe


Still Waters

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Keepers at a Danish zoo have defended their decision to put down a 'surplus' giraffe.

Eighteen-month-old Marius, a giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo, was killed this morning by a bolt gun following a call for the facility to change its mind.

http://metro.co.uk/2...lation-4296383/

:(

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While maintenance of such a large animal would be costly, I cannot imagine that steps could not have been taken to avoid such an extreme solution. My state is one of the poorest in the country but we as citizens would gladly done so. Some individual would have started things rolling with a donation and others would have followed. It's a shame.

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While maintenance of such a large animal would be costly, I cannot imagine that steps could not have been taken to avoid such an extreme solution. My state is one of the poorest in the country but we as citizens would gladly done so. Some individual would have started things rolling with a donation and others would have followed. It's a shame.

Steps were taken, but none were viable. And as the vet correctly asked, why not this outrage about pigs, cows, etc.?

Cheers,

Badeskov

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Steps were taken, but none were viable. And as the vet correctly asked, why not this outrage about pigs, cows, etc.?

Cheers,

Badeskov

I guess because they are part of the food chain for us, this giraffe was there to earn a "tourist dollar" when it wasn't cost effective it was discarded - that is an offensive way to think about any life.

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Steps were taken, but none were viable.

Cheers,

Badeskov

Not even this?

Other zoos, including the Yorkshire wildlife park in Britain, had offered to take it in.

http://www.theguardi...-giraffe-marius

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A Lioness and cubs were also put down, in the UK! (in another separate story that is)

http://www.dailymail...taff-tears.html

.

Edited by seeder
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A Lioness and cubs were also put down, in the UK! (in another separate story that is)

http://www.dailymail...taff-tears.html

In the BBC version of that news story it says -

A spokesman said a spate of pregnancies had led to a 40% increase in lion numbers causing "excessive violent behaviour".

It said one lion was destroyed after being injured in an attack while five more were destroyed because their health was believed to be at risk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...tshire-26108506

Whereas the giraffe was said to be 'healthy'.

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A similar situation exists in the US for Greyhounds. Once their useful time on a racetrack is finished they are euthanized if not adopted.

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I guess because they are part of the food chain for us, this giraffe was there to earn a "tourist dollar" when it wasn't cost effective it was discarded - that is an offensive way to think about any life.

It was not put down because it was not cost effective, but because it was a male too many in the fold. While giraffes are social animals, there is also a strong hierarchy among them and as a male, Marius would have been harassed and excluded by the rest of the flock essentially giving him a miserable life - the other male was already after him. And unfortunately there was nobody in the European Association of ZOOs and Aquaria that were able to take him.

Cheers,

Badeskov

Cheers,

Badeskov

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So, do they intend to use the animal to feed homeless, or anything?

Seems like a waste of a lot of raw materials

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So, do they intend to use the animal to feed homeless, or anything?

Seems like a waste of a lot of raw materials

The carcass was autopsied and most of it was fed to the lions. The vets keep a few things for science and further study.

Cheers,

Badeskov

Edited for typo.

Edited by badeskov
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The carcass was autopsied and most of it was fed to the lions. The vets keep a few things for science and further study.

Cheers,

Badeskov

Edited for typo.

Zookeepers kill healthy baby giraffe with a bolt gun because he was 'surplus to requirements' and then feed him to the lions but not before doing an autopsy in front of young children.

arrow3.gifView: Link

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While i am not outraged in the slightest about killing a giraffe and feeding it to lions, i was outraged by a comment that this giraffe was "genetically inferior". What does that mean?

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"Copenhagen Zoo's scientific director and other staff have received death threats after a healthy giraffe was killed to avoid inbreeding among the long-necked beasts there, the zoo said on Monday."

""I got direct threats against the zoo, me and my family," Holst said. One caller who telephoned in the middle of the night told him that he and his family deserved to die."

http://news.yahoo.com/copenhagen-zoo-staff-death-threats-giraffe-killing-184922362.html

:(

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You don't serve venison for dinner with a picture of Bambi on the menu.A perfect example of lousy PR from the officials responsible. The culling could have been done quietly without a public butchering.Stupid, and totally predictable public reaction.

Reminds me of the idiot Headmistress who allowed kids to watch the slaughter of one of her schools pet sheep.

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A similar situation exists in the US for Greyhounds. Once their useful time on a racetrack is finished they are euthanized if not adopted.

Greyhounds , Podencosand Galgos in Spain

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"Copenhagen Zoo's scientific director and other staff have received death threats after a healthy giraffe was killed to avoid inbreeding among the long-necked beasts there, the zoo said on Monday."

""I got direct threats against the zoo, me and my family," Holst said. One caller who telephoned in the middle of the night told him that he and his family deserved to die."

http://news.yahoo.com/copenhagen-zoo-staff-death-threats-giraffe-killing-184922362.html

:(

I get that. But surely it could have bred somewhere else, away from its family members? It couldn't be sent to other countries because it was "genetically inferior" was the direct quote I saw on tv. Is this particular giraffe inbred? Or have the zookeepers gone a bit Nazi all of a sudden.

Also, threatening the mans family is ridiculous. Of all the things to get mad about...

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I get that. But surely it could have bred somewhere else, away from its family members? It couldn't be sent to other countries because it was "genetically inferior" was the direct quote I saw on tv. Is this particular giraffe inbred? Or have the zookeepers gone a bit Nazi all of a sudden.

Also, threatening the mans family is ridiculous. Of all the things to get mad about...

I was only updating the story... I'm on the side of the giraffe! Threatening the man's family though is 'out of order', to say the least.

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I was only updating the story... I'm on the side of the giraffe! Threatening the man's family though is 'out of order', to say the least.

The problem with this story (apart from what they did) is the way it's become headline news. I've seen it on every news site I go to so it's been well publicised, including pictures in some which are disturbing for some tastes and I think needn't have been shown. They've only made matters worse, but then that was probably their intention.

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Another zoo in the USA just killed three lions. Two of them were cubs I believe.

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"Copenhagen Zoo's scientific director and other staff have received death threats after a healthy giraffe was killed to avoid inbreeding among the long-necked beasts there, the zoo said on Monday."

""I got direct threats against the zoo, me and my family," Holst said. One caller who telephoned in the middle of the night told him that he and his family deserved to die."

http://news.yahoo.com/copenhagen-zoo-staff-death-threats-giraffe-killing-184922362.html

:(

Inbreeding?

Give the giraffe to another zoo you moron!

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Reminds me of the idiot Headmistress who allowed kids to watch the slaughter of one of her schools pet sheep.

Which Headmistress? How old were the kids?

Back roughly *ahem* years ago when I was in Year 6 (11 years old) I went on the school's week long Year 6 camp to a working farm. On the last full day we had the opportunity to watch the farmer slaughter a sheep. There were about 60 boys on the camp, and I was one of about a dozen who chose to not watch the slaughter.

The farmer killed the sheep by slitting its throat. It was then barbecued during the day for our dinner that night.

I don't regret staying away from the slaughter, but I also don't have any negative feelings about the boys who chose to watch the slaughter - a friend who watched it described it in plainly factual terms; there certainly weren't any reports of kids getting hysterical about what they saw. But whether or not we watched it, it was an important lesson - about where our food comes from, and about the fact of life and death in nature.

(Incidentally, earlier on the camp, we were divided into groups of four, and dropped at various locations 4 to 6 kilometres from the farm with a map and compass, and had to find our ways back to the farm. We all thought it was great fun, but I wonder how many adults today would allow their 11 year old kids do that?)

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