The Copenhagen Zoo’s ostensible reason for killing the giraffe and feeding it to lions was to prevent inbreeding. This is nonsensical. Other zoos offered to take the giraffe and and a private party said they’d pay $760,000 for it, which would certainly buy lots of lion food. What’s becoming quite clear in all of this is the wall of silence from too many other zoos and the revelations that they do the same thing – kill animals when they feel like it without compunction when the animals might interfere with their profit stream.
Zoos aren’t about the animals any more, if they ever were. Rather, they are about protecting little fiefdoms and maximizing fund-raising by having slave creatures for visitors to gawk at. Some of the slave creatures can be scary. Many of course should be cuddly. This maximizes cash flow. Behind the scenes though, it’s just kill the slave creatures when they are no longer suitable for producing profits. I volunteer for a cat rescue organization that never ever puts down an animal (unless it is dying and in pain.) Zoos should do the same.
Copenhagen Zoo employees are getting death threats. Let me see if I have this right. People are angry at the zoo for killing an animal so they want to kill a person in revenge? This is as deranged as the actions of the zoo.
PS I have no problem with animals eating other animals. (Hey, our little fluffy cat Bandit turns into a stone cold killer when she’s outside.) I do have a big problem with the nasty, pointless way Copenhagen Zoo killed the giraffe and their complete tone-deafness to public opinion.