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GRAPHIC VIDEO: Why Arguments For Killing Of Giraffe Marius Don’t Stand Up To Scrutiny

February 10, 2014

“WTF…they didn’t have to kill him, Marius was offered various homes & even a business man was willing to pay thousands to save the giraffe! It seems it’s rules for one & rules for another in the EAZA operation! If they can’t or don’t want an animal that doesn’t fit their requirements, they should have a system in place whereby the un-wanted animal can always be offered an alternative home; if they can’t manage that…then perhaps they shouldn’t be breeding animals at all!!

Thanks to my dear friend on twitter.com/9marbar9 for heads up on these. Please sign:

Editor’s note: Liz Tyson is Director of UK charity, The Captive Animals’ Protection Society (CAPS). She previously lived and worked in the Colombian Amazon on conservation projects. She is a board member of conservation charity Neotropical Primate Conservation and a doctoral researcher at the University of Essex, School of Law. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely hers.

Liz Tyson

(CNN) — The killing of a young giraffe named Marius at Copenhagen Zoo sparked international outrage this weekend. On Sunday, he was shot with a bolt gun then publicly dissected before being fed to the lions.

In its defence, the zoo has argued that Marius’ death was necessary to protect the genetic diversity of his species. It was claimed that to allow Marius to take up space that could be used to house another animal with more desirable genetic make-up may hinder conservation breeding programs.

Contraception which required sedation is dangerous and giraffes might die during the procedure. As such, Marius’ birth could not have been safely prevented. Marius could not be re-homed because sending him somewhere other than a zoo which was a member of the European Association for Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) could result in him being sold into a circus, which would be against EAZA rules. In effect, the zoo’s hands were tied, it was implied.

None of these arguments appear to stand up to scrutiny.

As the head of the European endangered species program for giraffes stated in press, Marius was not from a rare sub-species.

Given that zoos claim that animals are kept in order to support the conservation of threatened species, it is therefore unclear why any member of Marius’ subspecies should be held captive at all.

Zoo staff get death threats

It was further confirmed that a contraceptive for giraffes has been developed in the last few years which allows females to be safely injected at a distance thus suggesting that Marius’ birth was not inevitable.

The director of EAZA supported the stance that Marius had to die and encouraged people to consider the “bigger picture.” But EAZA itself is less than consistent in its approach to inbreeding and, indeed, in its concern for the ultimate fate of animals in its member zoos.

EAZA and similar zoo bodies discourage member zoos from deliberately breeding white lions; a practice which is recognized as involving inbreeding in order to perpetuate the unusual white colouring of the animals involved.

Due to the serious welfare implications and the lack of conservation value of inbred animals, breeding of white lions is theoretically not allowed in EAZA zoos. In practice, both West Midland Safari Park and Paradise Wildlife Park in the UK breed white lions.

Both are EAZA members and yet, despite vociferously supporting the killing of Marius to prevent the same problem, a blind eye has been turned by EAZA to the persistent inbreeding of other species in its zoos. White lions are, perhaps tellingly, a great crowd pleaser.

In 2012 West Midland Safari Park were revealed to have sent four white lions to a circus trainer, who sent them on to a Japanese circus. That the safari park remains an EAZA member means that the rules on sending animals to non-EAZA collections are not consistently applied. Despite this, no exception was made for Marius.

In fact, rather than Marius being a tragic exception, the killing of animals considered to be surplus to requirements by zoos is something which is common in the industry. A 2003 study suggested that there are around 7,500 animals deemed “surplus” in European zoos at any one time.

Whilst it cannot be undone, Marius’ death has served an important purpose in shining a spotlight on a practice which is normally kept well-hidden from public view. As long as there are zoos, there will be unwanted animals. And as long as there are unwanted animals, more like Marius will be killed.

It has long been recognised that conservation success is achieved not in city centre zoos or safari parks, but in natural habitats. We would urge anyone with a passion for conservation to support effective in situ efforts which are truly making a positive impact on species conservation.

Viewer Discrestion Advised – Danish Zoo criticized for killing giraffe

Published on 10 Feb 2014

CNN’s Fred Pleitgen on why thousands are angry after a zoo in Copenhagen culled a healthy giraffe.

READ: Why Copenhagen zoo was right to cull giraffe

READ: Danish zoo kills healthy giraffe, feeds body to lions

READ: Marius the giraffe: Copenhagen zoo staff get death threats

News Link:–http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/10/opinion/giraffe-culling-against/

GRAPHIC IMAGE: Danish zookeepers kill healthy baby giraffe with a bolt gun because he was ‘surplus to requirements’ – then feed him to the LIONS

February 10, 2014

WTF…this young giraffe didn’t have to die, this is so fxxxxd up! Marius was offered numerous homes along with a guy willing to pay thousands of pounds to save the animal. This is more than tragic & has shown us the public, an insight into these so called Conservation breeding programs! If these zoo’s allow these births, then they should be prepared to re-home the animals if they do not fit in the correct genetic make-up!!

Thanks to my dear friend on twitter.com/9marbar9 for heads up on these. Please sign:

Marius was shot with a bolt gun at Copenhagen Zoo
Spokesman said they were unable to find Marius a home at another zoo
Thousands had signed petitions appealing for a change of heart
Yorkshire Wildlife Park reportedly put in a last-ditch offer to take Marius in

This is the horrific moment schoolchildren crowded around to watch as the body of a perfectly healthy giraffe was chopped up before being fed to lions.

Despite more than 20,000 people signing an on-line petition to save two-year-old Marius, staff at Copenhagen Zoo yesterday went ahead and shot the animal with a bolt pistol.

Young children stood at arm’s length as his carcass was skinned and dissected before the meat was thrown to the lions.

Perfectly healthy: The giraffe named Marius who was shot dead and autopsied in the presence of visitors to the gardens at Copenhagen Zoo

The Danish zoo said the drastic move was needed to combat inbreeding and insisted the display was educational.

But animal rights campaigners last night condemned the killing of Marius, saying it exposed the cruel reality of welfare even in Europe’s top zoos.

Marius’s plight had triggered worldwide outpourings of protest, including an offer to re-home him in Britain, with many saying they were sickened by a zoo killing a healthy animal.

Copenhagen Zoo said it was told by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) that Marius was genetically too similar to the other giraffes in its breeding programme. Because captive animals are bred from a limited gene pool, zoos are monitored to prevent inbreeding and ensure the health of future generations.

After announcing plans to have Marius put down, the zoo received offers of a new home – including one from Yorkshire Wildlife Park – as well as a private buyer who offered 500,000 euros (£410,000).

A crown gathers for the public autopsy on Marius’s body

But bosses said the rules of EAZA membership meant animals could not be transferred to institutions that did not follow its rules on breeding programmes.

The zoo’s scientific director, Bengt Holst, said it was the same as parks culling deer to keep the whole population healthy.

He said: ‘Giraffes today breed very well, and when they do you have to choose and make sure the ones you keep are the ones with the best genes. The most important factor must be that the animals are healthy physically and behaviourally and that they have a good life while they are living, whether this life is long or short.’

Marius (centre) was shot with a bolt gun and will be chopped up for the other animals’ dinner.

Mr Holst said the zoo didn’t give its eight giraffes contraceptives due to ‘unwanted side effects on the internal organs’ and in order to allow animals to display natural parenting behaviour. According to Danish media, Copenhagen Zoo destroys 20-30 animals a year, including bears, tigers and zebras.

Mr Holst told the BBC spaces at institutions such as Yorkshire Wildlife Park should be reserved for ‘genetically more important’ giraffes and that the campaign to save Marius had gone ‘much too far’.

To supporters’ horror, the zoo yesterday announced Marius had been killed with a bolt gun instead of a lethal injection, which would have contaminated the flesh.

His carcass was then skinned and chopped up while visitors crowded around and the meat was fed to the lion population.

A lion feasts on the remains of Marius at Copenhagen Zoo after the mammal was put down earlier in the day

A spokesman said parents were allowed to decide whether their children should watch what the zoo regarded as an important display of scientific knowledge about animals, adding that it would have been ‘foolish’ to let the meat go to waste. Doncaster-based Yorkshire Wildlife Park, whose Danish head of ‘hoofstock’ offered to re-home Marius, said it was ‘saddened’ by the news.

‘We have a state-of-the-art giraffe house built in 2012 with a bachelor herd of four male giraffes and the capacity to take an extra male, subject to the agreement of the European studbook keeper,’ it said.

However the park said it received no response by the time it learnt that Marius had been destroyed.

Stine Jensen, of Denmark’s Organisation Against the Suffering of Animals, said the killing showed Copenhagen Zoo was not ‘the ethical institution that it wants to portray itself as being’.

Longleat Safari Park yesterday admitted it put down two lions and four cubs. The Wiltshire park said it had too many lions and they were growing violent. But visitors asked why new homes were not found.

News Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555079/Danish-zoo-kills-young-giraffe-deemed-surplus-feeds-lions.html#ixzz2svbiH3yC Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Copenhagen Zoo Kills Giraffe Rare Red “Marius” Giraffe Killed for Science feed to carnivores (Not Graphic)

Published on 9 Feb 2014

Rare Red Giraffe Put Down at Copenhagen Zoo Marius Giraffe Killed for Science. Efforts to win a last minute reprieve for a young giraffe called Marius at Copenhagen Zoo have failed and the zoo has put the animal down.
Scientists defended the action saying that giraffes had to be selected to ensure the best genes were passed down to future generations.
Thousands of people had signed an online petition urging the zoo to find the giraffe another home. The carcass will partly be used for research and partly to feed carnivores.Malcolm Brabant reports.