Hot Topic!! (Copenhagen Zoo)

Cambury108 · February 2014

What do you ladies think of the Copenhagen zoo and what it did to and with Marius the giraffe?

I am having a hot FB debate with people about this now and I would just like to see where you ladies stand.

liz429 · February 2014

I think it was really silly the way everything was handled. Seeing as he was healthy and others were willing to take him. To be completely honest though ever since H and I went on safari last year I look at all zoos differently. Theres nothing like seeing animals in their natural environment.

Cambury108 · February 2014

@liz429........I have never been huge on zoo's....I live by one of the GRANDEST zoo's in America apparently and I am 30 now and the last time I visited there I was 16 and forced to go. I have my own views on animal rights........I think the whole thing was beyond silly it was that and down right sad. I don't like the reason given that they used to kill him because like you said other places/people were willing to take him. I am also disturbed by the fact that they did this in the public and that people actually stood by with their small children and watched the whole process. I guess I understand if your an adult and you want to see that for whatever your reasons are but to have your small children witness that I don't agree with that. I am just saddened by the whole thing really.

pink flamingo · February 2014

So what happened exactly ? Some kind of zoo animal was killed in public for some reason ?

Cambury108 · February 2014

pink flamingo this zoo killed a 2 yr old giraffe in front of the public and then did an autopsy that last for 3 hours and then carved his body up and fed it to the lions at the zoo. Many people who were spectators to the killing/autopsy had very young children with them. The reasons that the zoo gave for killing Marius to me were not very good reason at all. They said he was a "surplus" animal and that his gene's were not interesting enough. Other zoo's offered to take him and house him and a private person offered to buy him and let him live out his life. He was denied to the other zoo's and the director told them to "save their space for a giraffe of more genetically diversity" and "It is not possible to transfer the giraffe to another zoo as it will cause inbreeding". They didn't want to castrate him and let him live out his life at the zoo because of this quote "If we just sterilize him, he will take up space for more genetically valuable giraffes" and they said he couldn't go live with the private buyer because of this "giraffes are social animals and could not be kept in isolation". The problems I have with all of this are numerous and I just find the whole thing to be beyond sad.

ETA: He was a perfectly healthy animal, there was no medical reason to kill him, He was 2 so he could have grown aprox. 3 more feet tall.

pink flamingo · February 2014

Hmm that seems pretty shitty . I agree with everyone else so far . There were definetly better options for the giraffe than being killed over its genetics. Also weird that they killed it in public and then fed it to other animals ?!?! Come on !

Cambury108 · February 2014

The director of the zoo said its job as a zoo is to teach people and so it had this public area and where they did it people were allowed to come if they wanted and bring children with them if they wanted. They showed pictures of little children 5-7yrs old maybe being just feet away while they preformed the autopsy, they said there was nothing wrong with his meat since they killed him by bolt gun instead of lethal injection so that they didn't have to waste what was 200 kilograms of meat. Here is a quote 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. He goes on to say that they don't sell their animals that is another reason why they didn't let the private buyer purchase him. Besides the fact that he stated about not having room for a castrated animal he says this "Contraceptives have a number of unwanted side effects on the internal organs and we would therefore apply a poorer animal welfare if we did not euthanize,". Here is the part I have a big problem with.The UK's Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which says it has a state-of-the-art giraffe house and the capacity for an extra male, was among several places which put in offers to take him and they were told no. So this whole thing smells fishy fishy fishy to me!!

ETA:Spelling is hard at 1am.

Cambury108 · February 2014

Soozerella my issue is not about the giraffe being fed to the lions, I eat meat and I would rather they gave the meat to the other animals vs throw it out. My issue is with the fact that they killed the giraffe in the first place. Other options were given for this animal instead of death and he was just denied at every turn. This zoo does not practice any type of contraceptive program “In Copenhagen Zoo we let the animals breed naturally. With naturally we mean that they will get young within the same intervals as they would in the wild. That means that the animals get to carry out their natural behaviours. Parental care is a big part of an animal’s behaviour. It is a 24 hour job in longer periods of their lives and we believe that they should still be able to carry out this type of behaviour also in captivity" With that said that means that they allowed for the "surplus" as they called him animal and then they killed him after 2 years. It would make more sense to me in the beginning to just not make the "surplus" animals.

To me its equivalent to us pet owners spaying/neutering our pets in order to not make extra dogs/cats. I don't think my dogs have a lesser quality of life because they have never been pregnant and given birth.

redmond_steph · February 2014

The article that i read about this stated that they did look into the UK zoo as an option, but as genetically related giraffes were already located there that zoo would have the same issue. And the only other zoo that came forward was not deemed to be operating at a high enough standard of care that it was able to be an option.

Cambury108 · February 2014

redmond_steph the articles I read did not mention that, so I did not have that information.

Cambury108 · February 2014

It was up to the parents on whether or not their kids should watch, I for one wouldn't have allowed my children to see that at such a young age but that is me. I understand that lions eat that in the wild, and no I don't want the meat to go to waste. I think my whole issue with this situation is that I don't believe a zoo should be letting animals be born if they have no intention of keeping/taking care of that animal for its natural life span or finding housing for that animal if they need the space later on. I have seen those shows when animals attack, I do believe in this case the private buyer had a animal refugee/sanctuary it wasn't just someone who was like "yeah I want a giraffe" I agree that people like that do not need to have an animal. It is just sad to me that he died for the reasons that he died for, Others may not agree and that is OK. I was just looking for others opinions who are not so hot headed and in the moment as the people I was talking to last night about this on FB. Thanks for your responses ladies

liz429 · February 2014

I think feeding the it to the cats was the only "natural" thing the zoo did. I find it hard to compare putting a bullet in an animal to be the same as allowing nature to take its course out in the wild.

Cambury108 · February 2014

@superspecialsnowflake I just wanted to tell you that I love all the pretty dresses your DD wears! I have to sadly say my DD does not even have one dress yet LOL. I need to work on that. I however don't wonder what giraffe meat tastes like

Loolaide I concur with your post very much. I wouldn't be able to ever see that either I would find it horrifying as well and I would sob.

MissyC979 · February 2014

I think the whole thing is really sad and disturbing. I can understand why it happened, but it still makes my heart hurt--especially the picture of the kids watching the dissection.

peitri · February 2014

Giraffes are my favorite animal. The amount of giraffe print, stuffed giraffes, and baby clothes with giraffes on it is excessive. LO's nursery is jungle theme so I can justify all my giraffes. I am sad because I want all the giraffes to live and IMO it doesn't seem the zoo had a good enough reason to kill him.

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