Marius the Giraffe
 

I have been following the killing of Marius from when the petition was released. I think breeding and then disposing of your "less important" abhorrent and don't understand why they just didn't geld him. What are your thoughts?

Danish zoo kills healthy giraffe, feeds body to lions - CNN.com

Yeah, I saw this story. What a sad thing. With that said, I have mixed feelings about zoos as a whole. While they provide a great learning opportunity for many who would never get a chance to experience the wonderful animals of the world, zoos also place these same animals in extremely unnatural habitats. There doesn't seem to be an easy answer.

Man at his finest - this is terrible and when I became old enough to understand I stopped going to zoos and any other attraction that exploits wild animals.

I find it remarkable that there is such a frail rationalization. And I am not sure what they thought the teaching moment was. There was also a private party who stepped forward with a large sum to save this young giraffe. They wouldn't allow it because he wasn't part of the "association". I find the entire idea of breeding and disposing of "surplus" or "less important genes" to be reminiscent of master race arrogance.

Once again, there is simply no rational explanation for man's cruelty to those who coexist with us on this planet. I'm upping my donation to the ASPCA.

Maybe they should have just aborted the fetus before it was born? Kind of like mankind does. If for any reason you don't want it, just get rid of it.

While there may have been valid genetic reasons for this slaughter, the way it was handled was horrific in my estimation. Euthanizing, autopsying and eventually cutting the dead animal in the prescience of youngsters is not an acceptable way to teach biology, genetics, etc.

There were options that might have saved this creature, I can't imagine why one of them wasn't used.

I do wonder if there would have been such an uproar if the animal in question was something other that a doe eyed, beautiful, young giraffe. My education is in biology and while I personally don't agree with the actions taken, I do understand the reasons given....and as might have been mentioned, why wait so long to do what was done.

http://zoo.dk/BesogZoo/Nyhedsarkiv/2...20giraffe.aspx

They mention some problem with gelding animals in zoos. http://abcnews.go.com/International/...eding-22430192

I do find their reasoning a bit disturbing if they see themselves as caretakers of the zoo animals rather than their owners. Would not a good caretaker want a healthy giraffe to live for as long as it possibly could in whatever other healthy environment they could find for it? They need not have "sold" it to another caretaker but made some other kind of arrangement. It does not seem like they tried very hard to care for this giraffe.

This story totally disgusts me.
Killing like this should be illegal.
Truly horrible!

From the above abc news article: Copenhagen Zoo doesn't give giraffes contraceptives or castrate them because that could have unwanted side effects on their internal organs, and the zoo regards parental care as important, said Holst.

I think extermination trumps "the unwanted side effect on internal organs ".

This whole situation disgust me! This is so wrong on so many levels. What is wrong with mankind that they will do something so savage to a living creature?? ....and in front of an audience of young children!

I'm surprised we haven't heard from VillagesPL yet. Everyday we kill millions of cows, chickens and pigs. We kill one giraffe and the world goes crazy.

I guess you didn't see how it was done and dissected and eaten in front of children. Cows, chickens and pigs are different......have you been eating giraffe lately??...good grief, don't compare.

A living creatures worth is not determined by how it tastes, or how it was killed, or who was present when it was slaughtered. I personally think the zoo was guilty of a tremendous public relations mistake, but in the same hour it took the zoo to kill and dissect the giraffe, we killed 4000 cows in this country alone. Almost 3 million healthy and adoptable dogs and cats are killed each year. Heck, almost 3 million children die of hunger related causes each year. I'm just not going to get all worked up because a zoo killed a giraffe and fed it to the lions. The lions weren't eating salad every day before this happened.

I guess this "learning experience" worked for you. Do you suppose all the children that viewed this also learned something from it.....if so, what? Hard to believe that you are comparing children dying to the slaughter of an animal.

If folks are disturbed by this action...as I am....why are you trying to justify it by comparing it to other deaths? How does ones caring about an animal being killed have anything to do with its worth? It's a living creature....people care. Maybe you don't, but other do. Don't tell others not to care.

You misunderstand my post. Of course the death of this animal is disturbing. To me, the unnecessary death of any living thing is disturbing. It is one of the reasons I am always trying to eat lower on the food chain. But I would like someone to explain to me how the life of this beautiful giraffe is worth more than the life of a perfectly healthy cow or pig or chicken. A healthy animal was killed. His death was used to educate others, and his body was used to feed others. I think I would be a hypocrite if I was typing this while eating my porterhouse steak or my rack of baby back ribs. I realize that before I bought my food in the supermarket, it looked different than a nicely marbled piece of meat shrink wrapped in plastic. It too was a living creature. So, if you are upset at the killing of this beautiful creature, please share that indignation with the millions of other animals killed every hour. I spent years working for an organization that rescued chihuahuas. The death of every dog upsets me, but the fact that 3 million dogs and cats are killed each year upsets me more. I guess it was like Stalin said, "the death of one person is a tragedy! the death of millions of people is a statistic". Don't accuse me of not caring.....I just care for them all.

The problem I see with this is as caretakers, they bred an animal, decided he was surplus because his genes were not important enough, and exterminated him. Where is the teaching moment in that? You are so right that millions of cats and dogs are exterminated every year, over 100,000 horses are sent across the border for a brutal slaughter, and factory farming is less than humane. That said, zoos are supposed to be a place where the animal is taken care of, and celebrated, not raised as food. There are plenty of dead animals that can be used as food. They essentially diminished the value of an animal by showing the public how insignificant this giraffe was which is actually the opposite of the mission of zoos. People are not upset by one giraffe; they are upset by the concept that any zoo would think this is the right message. Even Jack Hanna, reknowned zookeeper/ Columbus Zoo, is appalled.

Again, before I reply, let me reiterate that I too think this was terrible. But as you state, zoos are caretakers. Caretakers often have to cull the herd. You also say that there are plenty of dead animals to feed the lions. Well, those dead animals were very much alive just a few days prior to being lion feed. I personally don't understand how the zoo didn't control the genetic breeding program better, but culling an animal that was genetically unfit and would have caused inbreeding now makes room for another animal whose genes will improve the well being of the entire species. The animal was killed humanely, in the same manner my food is killed. It was autopsied to add to our scientific knowledge, and it's remains we're not wasted. But I get much angrier at people who leave their dogs tied up outside all the time, or who buy their dogs from pet stores that in turn get them from puppy mills. I wonder if people are aware of what happens to some animals that zoos sell as surplus. They all don't go to live on Grandmas farm. They are sometimes sold to game farms where people pay to hunt them, and I use the term "hunt" loosely, because what happens on those game farms is an insult to real hunters. Again, please don't flame me. I think the death of any living creature is bad, but I don't see how the hypocrisy of the outrage is is not apparent.

It is evident that you do care and I am not flaming you.
But yes, I do say there are plenty of dead animals although they were very much alive a few days prior. But that IS the point. They were no longer alive. No need to kill a healthy animal. Please consider that there were options for this animal and they chose to kill it. They could have easily had a teaching experience with an animal that HAD died. Why do this unnecessarily? They had other zoos...far far away...on other continents in fact that would have taken this animal.

As for the zoos selling surplus for hunting...I can't even begin to address that.

I truly appreciate that we are able to have a civilized discourse on this. It doesn't always happen this way on this forum. Here is what happens every day at zoos.
All major American zoos have to deal with surplus animals, and many of them have engaged in the following practices. If the animals are lucky, they may be traded or sent to another zoo or accredited facility. Some get transferred to multiple zoos throughout their lives. But a large number of them go to private breeders, pet owners, circuses, roadside zoos, and canned hunting ranches. The animals are usually sold to an animal dealer, who then sells them directly to a hunting ranch or taxidermist, where they are immediately killed, or the dealer brings them to an auction, where anybody can buy the animals. They usually end up in filthy, cramped conditions, cared for by people who are not familiar with the animal’s nutritional, emotional, and physical needs.
The zoo may decide to take care of the problem themselves, in more barbaric ways. Some of the extra animals are euthanized, and fed to the other zoo animals. Sometimes the animals are killed and their parts are sold (pelts, skulls, etc.) A number of zoo veterinarians advocate for other controversial practices such as culling, using zoo animals for medical research, and aborting fetuses. The treatment of surplus animals is the zoo industry’s “dirty little secret.”

BarryRX........I understand you have knowledge regarding the "disposal" of unwanted animals. Any action that is as unethical as this is disturbing and barbaric. The whole situation was wrong and in very poor taste. Why do you assume that if someone is disgusted by this ridiculous killing of a healthy giraffe, discounts their feeling regarding the killing and/or abuse of other animals or humans? Stating a feeling that one has about a specific event that happened to one animal does not discount other situations.....they are ALL wrong. You are agreeing with me, but for whatever reason saying that I don't care about the death or abuse of other animals or children. I care about all living things. Don't minimize this barbaric act of this one animal just because it happens often to other animals.

I believe I am trying to say just the opposite. I have so far seen many people express their heartfelt emotions for this poor animal. As yet, only one other person has expressed similar emotions for the exact same act that is repeated over and over again every single day. Everyone who has responded is a kind and intelligent person who has a love of animals. Perhaps we can all use the death of this giraffe to be more vocal about animal cruelty. Will you or anyone else change their eating habits due to the inherent cruelty of factory farming or do we accept that this is what's needed to feed so many people in the world. Will everyone who gets a dog do so only from a shelter or rescue organization, recognizing that when you buy from a pet store or a breeder, another dog is being euthanized in a kill shelter because there is no room. I also wonder that if this story was about a wart hog would it have garnered the same response. I am not minimizing this barbaric act.....I am trying to point out that this act has been repeated 4000 times in the last hour and we should address our outrage in that direction.

Agreed.