Copenhagen Zoo staff get death after healthy giraffe is killed and fed to lions

[NewYorkExpress]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/copenhagen-zoo-staff-get-death-threats-after-healthy-giraffe-killed-1.1679024

And PETA's tentacles spread to Denmark...

[Tender Branson]

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Why didn't they just transport the giraffe to another zoo with some females ? Or back to Africa ?

[Consciously Unconscious]

When I first read this I thought you were talking about capital punishment.  I was really surprised until I saw 'death threats' in the article. 

But yeah,  it seems like the giraffe could have just been transported.   

[Tender Branson]

When I first read this I thought you were talking about capital punishment.  I was really surprised until I saw 'death threats' in the article. 

But yeah,  it seems like the giraffe could have just been transported.   

I don't know anything about zoo policy, but as bad as it sounds it's probably easier to just kill it than transport it elsewhere or back to Africa - because of the costs.

And I guess for an animal that is used to living in a zoo, transporting it back to the wilderness of Africa would basically be a death sentence anyway, because it would soon be killed by natural enemies. A giraffe that was "nannied" in a zoo would be easy prey.

[Tender Branson]

But I still don't know why they didn't transport it to another zoo, where the genetic pool might be totally different so that there wouldn't be inbreeding ...

[Lief 🗽]

lions gotta eat

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

Yeah, dude, seriously

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

[[opebo They should have fed them live Christians /opebo]]

[NewYorkExpress]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

It wouldn't fit... trust me I hate title length restrictions too!

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

It wouldn't fit... trust me I hate title length restrictions too!

Copenhagen Zoo Staff Gets Death Threats......
See?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

But I still don't know why they didn't transport it to another zoo, where the genetic pool might be totally different so that there wouldn't be inbreeding ...

Would another zoo have been interested?  Judging by the spot pattern, it appears to be an example of the most common giraffe (sub)species, the reticulated giraffe.  Also, most zoos will only keep one (sub)species of giraffe as they don't have room for more (or for many examples of the (sub)species they have).  Giraffes aren't exactly the most amenable of animals for keeping in a zoo due to the requirements they have.

[politicus]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

It wouldn't fit... trust me I hate title length restrictions too!

Copenhagen Zoo Staff Gets Death Threats......
See?

Copenhagen Zoo staff gets death threats after healthy giraffe is fed to lions would have worked too, since its unlikely they would have fed a live giraffe to the lions.

On topic: Extremist and misguided animal "lovers" are a pain. Also you cant transport a zoo giraffe back to its natural habitats and since no neighbourhood zoo needed a giraffe, it was a natural solution.

[Middle-aged Europe]

An online petition which currently has 66,000 signatures demands to shut the Copenhagen Zoo down:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/923/331/674/marius-the-giraffe-slaughtered-boycott-close-down-copenhagen-zoo/

Which is probably an insane proposal, because when a zoo is closed for a good a lot of those animals would be simply put down as well I guess.

Is it possible to launch a counter-petition which demands that this petition is deleted?

[Middle-aged Europe]

Well, I just a launched a counter-petition under a fake name just to troll them a bit :

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/979/524/374/delete-the-petition-which-demands-the-shutdown-of-copenhagen-zoo/?cid=HouseAd_petition_300x250#sign

Let's see how long it takes until the petition is deleted because it's against the terms or service of something.

[MasterJedi]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

It wouldn't fit... trust me I hate title length restrictions too!

Copenhagen Zoo Staff Gets Death Threats......
See?

Copenhagen Zoo staff gets death threats after healthy giraffe is fed to lions would have worked too, since its unlikely they would have fed a live giraffe to the lions.

On topic: Extremist and misguided animal "lovers" are a pain. Also you cant transport a zoo giraffe back to its natural habitats and since no neighbourhood zoo needed a giraffe, it was a natural solution.

EAZA won't ship to zoos that aren't in their system because they supposedly don't take care of animals as well, so they just decided to kill a giraffe instead.

[Cory]

Nobody serious cares about this.

[tik 🪀✨]

Nobody serious cares about this.

I care about this and my slack-jawed underlings assure me that I am most certainly very serious indeed. How would you feel about joining the team?

[ingemann]

Nobody should care about this.

Fixed

When that's said. This piss me off, in the good old days they would have killed the animal while the children was looking and not just cut up with them as an audience, and of course a young delious animal like this would have ended up in the zookeepers refrigerators rather than being wasted on lions (who would have been just as happy with an old animal). Of course when the public found out that a few years ago, they whined and now the meat have to be used to feed the carnivores of the zoo.

BTW look at those "poor" children



Don't they look traumatised?

[Хahar 🤔]

You forgot the word "threats" in the title.

It wouldn't fit... trust me I hate title length restrictions too!

So you picked the worst possible word to omit.

[Franknburger]

Nobody should care about this.

Fixed

When that's said. This piss me off, in the good old days they would have killed the animal while the children was looking and not just cut up with them as an audience, and of course a young delious animal like this would have ended up in the zookeepers refrigerators rather than being wasted on lions (who would have been just as happy with an old animal). Of course when the public found out that a few years ago, they whined and now the meat have to be used to feed the carnivores of the zoo.

In the good old days, however, zoos also did not pretend (and receive funding for) being an institution for protecting bio-diversity and endangered species. They just displayed curiosities from other continents - mostly animals, sometimes also people (the latter ones, however, were usually not slaughtered but allowed to return home).

 

[ingemann]

Nobody should care about this.

Fixed

When that's said. This piss me off, in the good old days they would have killed the animal while the children was looking and not just cut up with them as an audience, and of course a young delious animal like this would have ended up in the zookeepers refrigerators rather than being wasted on lions (who would have been just as happy with an old animal). Of course when the public found out that a few years ago, they whined and now the meat have to be used to feed the carnivores of the zoo.

In the good old days, however, zoos also did not pretend (and receive funding for) being an institution for protecting bio-diversity and endangered species. They just displayed curiosities from other continents - mostly animals, sometimes also people (the latter ones, however, were usually not slaughtered but allowed to return home).

I know this is an extreme opinion to have. But I don't see animals as people in feather,scales or fur, and I value humans above animals. Do I think you should hurt animals for fun; No. But neither do I see any value in disneyfication of them.

BTW: No all those exotic people in Zoos in the late 19th early 20th century didn't go home, at least not in Denmark, many married Danes and you can meet their descendents. In fact the exotic people in Copenhagen Zoo was employers of the Zoo, paid and given accommodation outside the Zoo, working there only in the daytime.

[Franknburger]

Ingermann - I kind of enjoyed your post (it made me wonder which device  in the "good old days" would have been used to prepare a giraffe's leg). The point is: When you change your business model, as zoos have done, you also need to adapt your business practice to your target group's expectation. Apparently, the Copenhagen Zoo is just about to learn this lesson the hard way.

And Copenhagen Zoos is not alone in this: The Berlin Zoo is regularly getting under fire in the local press for cases like giraffe babies dying from severe genetic defects due to long-time inbreeding. Posing as protector of endangered species is easy, credibly putting it into practice obviously quite difficult..

[ingemann]

Ingermann - I kind of enjoyed your post (it made me wonder which device  in the "good old days" would have been used to prepare a giraffe's leg).

Likely an oil barrel cut down the middle with a grid welded on the top.

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The reaction in Denmark was relative small, until it became an international thing. In general the whole touchy feely attitude toward non pets are relative small. Most Danes are as children send to farms to live for a week (I was on a pig farm) as part of public schooling, we are send to slaugther houses to see how it work (the cutting up, not the killing). We (we in this use are the majority there are a lot of Danes who see this otherwise) know where meat come from and so our feeling toward animals are one where we see them as sources of meat. Of course no one support animal cruelty, but the attitude are that they need to be well treated until we kill them. It's also why even through Denmark is in a culinary renaissance, vegetarian restaurants and dishes are rare, something I myself find a little sad (while I enjoy meat, I think meat free food are nice once in a while).

So I don't think Copenhagen Zoo had a problem with their target audience, which really don't have a problem with this. The problem was that globalisation hit. When the hysterical reaction ended up going around the world, suddenly Zoo needed to deal with that. Of course if I have to be completely brutal. Copenhagen Zoo don't get a lot of international attention (Berlin Zoo as example have a lot better brand than Copenhagen Zoo), so this may in fact be a good thing for their brand, and may in fact raise the number of foreign visitors, while Wonderful Copenhagen the main tourist organisation of Copenhagen didn't have any problem with this either, and don't expect to see fewer visitors to Copenhagen.

[Franknburger]

The German criticism (which may, or may not, apply to Copenhagen Zoo as well) goes in general along the following lines:

Zoos pose with their new-borns, and use them to attract visitors. However, when those new-borns have reached the age where they stop to be "cute", they are quickly being disposed of in order to make way for the next new-born. And all that takes place under the general heading of "protecting endangered species", which in practice isn't anything more than constant in-breeding in order to gain the next visitor attraction.

I don't think many people minded the lions being fed giraffe meat (vegetarian lions are rather rare). It isn't too different from the daily exercise of throwing big chunks of red meat into the lion cage in front of zoo visitors. It's more about the audacity to  first kill a young, healthy giraffe (which may a year ago still have been advertised as zoo attraction), and then even trying to sell the whole action as educational event for children.
As such, I agree: Feeding the giraffe to humans would have been more appropriate - but put it on the zoo restaurant menu, or organise a public barbecue...

In general, I feel zoos as tourist attractions are overrated. You can see the same mix of elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees and ice bears in almost every larger European city, why go to Copenhagen (which has a lot of other attractions to offer) for that purpose? Zoos are fine for a grandparents/  grandchild excursion, or the once-a-week "divorced dad meets the kids" programme, but that is about it (and probably behind the financial problems zoos are obviously having). Bring back the Sioux into the Zoo, and things may change....