Copenhagen Zoo Under Fire for Killing Giraffe (Video)

By Cynthia Herbert :: 7:58 PM

A zoo in Copenhagen, Denmark is enduring scathing criticism across social media today after news broke that zoo officials approved the killing and dismemberment of a young giraffe in its care.

The 18-month-old giraffe, named Marius, was shot with a bolt gun, and cut up in front of curious onlookers on the zoo property. Meat from the baby giraffe was set aside to feed to the zoo’s lions and tigers.

The zoo claims that Marius was killed because he lacked the correct genes for future breeding possibility. The zoo also claimed that there were no other institutions in Europe that wanted the giraffe.

“You have to accept that there is a surplus of animals that cannot be included in the genetic chain without causing inbreeding problems,” zoo director Bengt Holst told a Danish newspaper after public outrage began to spread.

At least two wildlife parks, one in the Netherlands, and one in the United Kingdom, placed last minute requests to save Marius, with offers to take him on at their properties, but the offers were rebuffed by the Copenhagen zoo.

After the giraffe was killed, the body was moved to a public location, where a crowd, including small children, watched as zoo officials cut up the body. A graphic video is below.