The Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark killed a young male giraffe, butchered the animal, and fed the meat to the lions, in front of onlookers including young children – in spite of an international campaign to save the animal that included offers from other zoos and a private bidder to take him in.

Comic Ricky Gervais posted online: “Destroying a beautiful healthy animal because it was surplus to your needs just isn’t good enough.”

Marius was a two-year-old healthy male who was put down on Sunday using a bolt pistol, rather than by lethal injection which would have contaminated the meat (Warning, disturbing images).  There was nothing wrong with him, other than he had the wrong genes. 

You see, The Amsterdam-based European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) recommended Marius be killed because there already were a lot of giraffes with similar genes in the organization’s breeding program, and they wanted to prevent inbreeding.  And because of that, he was considered ‘surplus’.  Apparently, an animal in the EAZA system is only considered worthwhile if it can be bred to create more attractions to draw in the people and their admission fees.

“I’m actually proud because I think we have given children a huge understanding of the anatomy of a giraffe that they wouldn’t have had from watching a giraffe in a photo,” said zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro.

The UK's Yorkshire Wildlife Park – which has a state-of-the-art giraffe house and the capacity for an extra male – was among several zoos which put in last-ditch offers to take Marius.  But Copenhagen Zoo officials refused to consider offers from outside the EAZA system.  And EAZA refused an offer from a private individual who wanted to buy the giraffe for 500,000 euros (A$760,000).

Copenhagen Zoo’s scientific director Bengt Holst said, “I know the giraffe is a nice looking animal, but I don’t think there would have been such an outrage if it had been an antelope, and I don’t think anyone would have lifted an eyebrow if it was a pig.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the UK released a statement saying Marius’ case was a wake-up call:  “Giraffes rarely die of old age in captivity, and had Marius not been euthanized today, he would have lived out his short life as a living exhibit, stranded in a cold climate, thousands of miles away from his true home.”