Earlier this month, a young giraffe that lived at the Copenhagen Zoo was shot and killed to prevent their captive giraffes from inbreeding.
A bid to save the giraffe failed even after thousands signed an online petition appealing the decision of Copenhagen Zoo officials.
The giraffe, named Marius, was killed and dissected in front of visitors, including children, and was fed to the zoo’s lions.
Zoo officials made a tough decision and did what they thought was right. Although this decision seems inhumane, they also offered the public a chance to learn about the anatomy giraffes in a more intricate way.
It is the Zoo’s responsibility to manage animal populations and ensure that only the best genes are passed down in the species. It is reported that 20-30 zoo animals are put down every year at Copenhagen to deal with overcrowding and inbreeding.
Animal rights activists describe the decision to kill Marius as barbaric and are calling for a change in the way zoos do business.
Although the situation seems extreme, it is more common than many people may think. The public attention was brought onto this specific situation because it was done in the public eye so they could give visitors an opportunity to learn more about giraffes.
Zoo’s need to improve the quality of care provided for the animals in their care to better deal with malnutrition and overcrowding, not because of what happened in Copenhagen.
This incident encouraged the public to question ethical issues in zoos. Many in the public are now asking, “Are zoos making decisions based on what is right for the animals or what is best financially for zoo owners?”
In a Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia, an 18-month-old lion was founded hanged in his cage earlier this year. The zoo officials claim that the lion, named Michael, caught himself as he jumped around his cage and that it was merely an accident.
Surabaya is the oldest zoo in Indonesia and it has recently earned the epithet as “the zoo of death” because of plethora of animals dying and suffering under its care.
In 2012, 44 pounds of plastic were discovered in the stomach of one the zoo’s departed giraffes. This is just one example of Surabaya’s animals dying from malnutrition and neglect.
Yet this zoo is still open to the public and the 3,465 animals from 201 different species are still at the mercy of Surabaya’s incompetence.
The conditions of the Surabaya are so appalling that the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, have reached out twice to the Indonesian President Susilo Bamban Yudhoyono in the past two months in the hopes that his attention will lead to improvements in the zoos standards.
World Association of Zoos and Aquariums officials are worried that if the situation in Surabaya isn’t improved quickly that this could lead to more than just a “single zoo issue,”and threaten the reputation of zoos worldwide as operations such as Surabaya draws negative attention and harsh criticism from groups that oppose animals cruelty.
Zoo’s have began to build the reputation of being a place for conservation and education, rather than just a place for the public to view captive wild animals. But situations such as the one at Surabaya strain public trust in zoos.
The Copenhagen Zoo made a tough decision, but it was a decision made with what I believe were good intentions. The long-term genetics of the zoo’s giraffe population needed to be preserved, and while grisly, the decision to conduct the killing and dissection in public created a rare learning opportunity.
The mistreatment of animals in zoos is found all over the world, and the public should turn their attention to them, not on zoos that make hard decisions for the right reasons.
