This kind of treatment of an animal is unacceptable.
I hope outrage is strong enough, so that no zoo will ever risk such an action again.
When it comes to the treatment of animals anywhere, we are all watching.
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-cop...us-1960985
Why did they bother to feed him if they were just going to shoot him. It seems like hypocrisy. The way they treated him afterwards is nasty.
This article makes what they did seem even worse.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorial...z2szG81GCp
He was young and there were other zoos willing to take him.
If ever I hoped that Karma is real I hope it is real for the people who made the decision to end a healthy giraffe's life. There needs to be some justice in this world.
What a horrific story and the logic behind the decision unbelieveable!
Not a huge fan af "zoos" per se, anyway.
What happened to this poor creature is shameful.
And while I would agree that children in certain societies who have no choice but to hunt animals for food, must have to learn the realities of preparing that animal for food -I am absolutely horrified that the Copenhagen zoo killed and butchered this giraffe as the children looked on!
That is just unnecessarily brutal, wicked, and has a streak of deep sadism about it.
An absolutely terrible thing to happen to this beautiful animal.
The wisest words are in the first article:
Bergvall said keeping species in zoos caused the individual animals to suffer. Breeding animals for captivity created the limited gene pool problem that led to Marius's death. "The best thing is not to breed animals for people to look at," she said.
I agree with all the comments above, too. The butchering of the poor animal in front of children will only desensitise them to brutality.
That's like a smack in the face. If other zoo's wanted him why in the world kill him? And then dissect him in front of crowds! What did they expect?!
I am still stunned that they would do this and in such a callous manner. Why raise him for 18 months if you plan to kill him. They had other choices. I think someone in management needs to be fired!
This has shocked us all. Of course in breeding should be avoided, but with the offers to re home him elsewhere, killing him was totally unnecessary. I hope other zoos and parks take note of the global outrage and act more wisely in future.
It is too late for one beautiful young giraffe, but his death will not be in vain if the other zoos take note of the strong reaction. What they did is old style zoo thinking and there is no place for it in the 21st century.
It is heart breaking when you know that there were other places that wanted him. Why kill him when there were other choices? That is what I can't grasp.
They are trying to blame science for the decision to kill the giraffe.
That only explains why he should not have been used for breeding.
There is a wide range of life possibilities between breeding program and death. These people should not be in a position to make decisions that affect any animals life. They clearly do not care about the animals as individuals. They are just units in a breeding program. How does that fit with breeding giraffes in captivity so we can help protect the species from extinction.
http://www.dailytitan.com/2014/02/copenh...by-science
It is sad when you read that the Yorkshire Wildlife Park had room and was willing to take him.
I think the zoo director is unfit to hold his job and so are many of his staff.