Quirk of fate: zoo that slaughtered, fed to lions giraffe kills two lions, two cubs
A story about the Copenhagen zoo is taking its turn again. Recently the news about killing a healthy giraffe found a massive outrage and feedback in social networks and mass media. This time two old lions and two cubs were killed. The zoo authorities have explained the incident in the following way: "Because of the pride of lions' natural structure and behaviour, the zoo has had to euthanise the two old lions and two young lions who were not old enough to fend for themselves."
It turns out that the 10-month-old lions would have been killed by the new male lion "as soon as he got the chance." So in order to save the little one, the zoo authorities have decided to eliminate the older ones.
According to the spokesman from the zoo, the authorities failed to find a new home for animals and thus have decided to kill four of them on Monday. It is known that all of four lions belonged to the same family.
In a couple of days the male lion will be introduced to the two female lions that can already breed baby lions.
Meanwhile, the zoo's chief executive, Steffen Straede, announced: "The zoo is recognised worldwide for our work with lions, and I am proud that one of the zoo's own brood now forms the centre of a new pride of lions."
As a reminder, last month one of the zoo’s scientific directors, Bengt Holst, has received various threats due to his decision to kill giraffe, Marius.
The story about Marius has shocked thousands of people all over the world and has led to protests and outcries from people. An online petition from animal lovers has been created online in an attempt to save him. Unfortunately, the attempt didn’t succeed as the zoo authorities have declared that according to European Association of Zoos and Aquaria rules inbreeding between giraffes should be avoided. A new online petition, calling the Copenhagen zoo to stop killing healthy animals, has been signed by thousands of people from around the world.
Zoos in Europe slaughter 5,000 healthy animals annuallyZoos in Europe slaughter between 3,000 and 5,000 perfectly healthy animals every year, according to Dr. Lesley Dickie, the executive director of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (Eaza). This kill count includes larger animals like giraffes, lions, and bears.
The findings come to light after the international community became furious over Copenhagen Zoo’s killing of Marius, a giraffe who was just 18 months old. It has been brought to the public’s attention that since 2012, at least five animals have been killed in Denmark. Though, the Nordic country is not the only culprit to blame for killing entirely well animals. In different European countries, 22 zebras, four hippos, and two Arabian Oryx were killed. The animals were believed to be in good health.
Anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 animals are killed on a yearly basis thanks to zoos all across Europe giving the final say on whether the creatures should live on or die off. “That’s our estimate for all animals management euthanized in the zoo, be it tadpoles up until a giraffe,” Dr. Dickie said on BBC Radio 4’s The Report program.
She also mentioned that “less than a few hundred” larger creatures like bears, giraffes, lions, and zebras also made up for the total death count. The actual number of how many animals are killed is not known because for some reason, it is not recorded as to why the animal is being slaughtered off in the first place.
According to an article from The Independent, Dr. Dickie said if zoo populations became too inbred they would be “absolutely no use for any future reintroduction program. There’s lots of success stories. Tiger populations are now more stable in our zoos than they are in the wild,” she said and ten continued on, “Things like golden lion tamarins, a small primate from South America – it only exists because of zoos. There are other animals in which the situation in the wild is very dire and thank goodness we have captive populations.”
Available for the public to digest, the Eaza yearbook 2007-08 is the most recent edition released. This book indicates that over-breeding was an issue for some species with a seemingly uncountable amount of monkeys, baboons, and leopards. Simon Tonge, Eaza’s chairman, admitted that the “numbers game can be made to sound awful”, but insisted the majority of the pubic approved of Eaza’s actions.
“There is 10, 15 percent of the population who believe that the worst thing a human being can possibly do under any circumstances is to kill an animal,” he said, according to The Independent, “But for the majority of people, if it’s necessary to euthanize an animal for human consumption or to regulate the populations, actually they are perfectly happy for that to happen.” However Libby Anderson of OneKind, an animal rights group, believes the notion of slaughtering zoo animals as part of a conservation plan was at best, misguided.
Wolf torn apart in front of kids, days after Copenhagen zoo publicly executed giraffe
Danish school kids piled into a room to watch a wolf get pulled apart, little by little. This happened just a couple of days after the Copenhagen Zoo got involved in a public relations' nightmare by executing a giraffe in public and feeding it off to lions.
The Natural History Museum in Arahus, Denmark invited the school-aged children to the bloody event as it was part of its schedule for the winter activity season. Some little kids were even shown pinching their noses shut as they tried to fight off the overbearing smell of the wolf’s stench.
Chief of Communication for the museum Pernille, Moelgarrd was responsible for the dissection. During one segment in the event, she held the animal’s lungs up high to show the audience how they worked. The wolf is thought to have originated from a close by wildlife park however it still remains a mystery as to how exactly the creature died. As some of the kids looked on with wonder others could not face the gore and quickly shut their eyes to the horror that was just feet away from them.
This event happened just a few days after two-year-old giraffe Marius was shot dead and then fed off to the lions at the Copenhagen Zoo. The animal was marked as a surplus and management needed to get rid of the creature. Even though there were many outsiders willing to take the giraffe in, the zoo ignored such requests and went ahead with the execution anyway, causing uproar on the international stage.
Voice of Russia, Daily Mail, The Independenthttp://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_2 ... cabs-7542/
