The Copenhagen Zoo Does It Again: It Slaughters a Family of Four Lions

The Copenhagen Zoo bred, named, raised and killed Marius, a two year old giraffe, last month. The zoo then publicly dissected Marius and fed the pieces to the lions and tigers at the zoo as an educational lesson for Denmark’s youth. The zoo slaughtered a family of lions, the parents and their two healthy cubs, last Monday. These lions had feasted on Marius. We don’t know who fed on the four lion carcasses. The zoo killed the four lions to make room for a three year old male lion, a 1:4 tradeoff. The zoo explained the two parents were elderly, the King of the Jungle was 16 and his consort 14 – too old to breed. In zoo view they had outlived their purpose and hence were expendable. They had to make way for a genetic superior, a new Lion King. We would call this act “elder abuse” if it were humans. Stefan Straede, the zoo director, described the new male: “He is a beautiful young male and I am certain he will be an impressive ambassador for his species,” as if the euthanized male was not. The zoo claimed the two cubs were killed because they could not survive on the own. If they did, the new male would have killed them at the first opportunity. Their dad died because the zoo was scared he would mate with his cubs. The zoo is opposed to incest, but practices eugenics. European zoos believe in “humanely” culling a species. American zoos believe in contraception. A public outcry responded to the killing of Marius. Zoo staffers received death threats. Denmark became known as the country that killed giraffes. PETA placed an anti-zoo billboard outside the zoo's entrance. The zoo’s officers are proud of their actions. They are oblivious to the protests.