Poor Marius the giraffe.
He didn’t know what was coming.
The healthy 2yo male giraffe at Copenhagen zoo was euthenased with a bolt gun today before being publicly cut up and fed to the carnivores at the zoo.
Oh my god.
I am morbidly fascinated by this story and I’m not quite sure why. I’m not good at the ugly side of nature generally. I can’t watch the inevitable bit in animal documentaries (which I love) where the cute animal with the big eyes gets killed and eaten. On an intellectual level I know it’s simply how the food chain works but I find it too confronting to watch.
I’m strangely drawn to the story of poor Marius and his sad, brutal and very public dispatch.
According to UK’s Independent newspaper:
“Ignoring thousands of pleas for clemency, at least two wildlife parks that wanted to re-home him and an offer of £415,000 from a wealthy benefactor, Copenhagen Zoo went ahead with the killing of Marius the giraffe on Sunday morning. The reason — his genes were too similar to other giraffes in a breeding programme run by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) – failed to convince furious animal rights campaigners and the zoo was deluged with complaints on social media.”
While I’m not a zooolgist, it’s hard to imagine there wasn’t another option for these big brown eyes…
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From what I gathered from communication with Danes on YT, they do not have the same lovey dovey attitude toward animals, that let's say the UK and US have. They view the dissection of the giraffe as clinical and educational. The idea of children watching this, didn't phase them either. Their comments were in defense of this killing and even young children watching. But what they aren't considering are the after effects on children. Each child processes this differently, and while Danes seem to have a group think attitude about the lions eating the giraffe in front of children, at some point there is bound to be kids having an adverse reaction of depression, anxiety, anger, rage, not trusting adults. This could cause problems. But from what I learned , compassion towards animals is somewhat a non issue in the Danish culture. They don't tend to feel the same closeness with animals as other cultures do. If people are out looking to change them, this will not happen, because you can't force new thoughts on people who have thought this way for centuries. Group think with them, is very powerful and they will defend their action. I can't imagine showing this in front of children or doing it at all, but I simply don't understand their culture and never will. There are some real cultural barriers here. What happened has happened. Can't unwind it.
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A thought to consider is where should zoos get the meat from to feed their carnivores?
Is it any worse to breed zebra, giraffe or antelope to then cull humanely to feed to the lions, than it is to cull racehorses or buy meat?
We are increasingly removed from our food production. On any farm, there will be similar decisions made regarding stocking and breeding, with stock culled, either sent to the abattoir or culled on site. Is this really any different because it involves a cute and cuddly looking animal?