Another giraffe named Marius faces death

Marius the giraffe is seen at Copenhagen Zoo. File picture: Keld Navntoft, Scanpix Denmark

Marius the giraffe is seen at Copenhagen Zoo. File picture: Keld Navntoft, Scanpix Denmark

Published Feb 13, 2014

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 Copenhagen - The Danish Jyllands Park Zoo said on Wednesday that it might put down one of its giraffes, which by coincidence is also named Marius, like the giraffe that Copenhagen Zoo slaughtered on Sunday, to the disgust of animal lovers around the world, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.

Staff at Copenhagen Zoo have received death threats after the zoo killed the 18-month-old healthy male giraffe because the animal's genes were already well represented in an international breeding programme that aims to maintain a healthy giraffe population in European zoos.

Jyllands Park Zoo in western Denmark might put down its seven-year-old Marius if the zoo manages to acquire a female giraffe, which is most likely, zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen told Ritzau. The zoo also has a younger male called Elmer.

“We can't have two males and one female. Then there will be fights,” Poulsen said.

She said that it might be possible to find another place for the giraffe to live, but that the probability is small. Like its namesake in Copenhagen, Jyllands Park Zoo's Marius is considered unsuitable for breeding.

“If the breeding programme co-ordinator decides that he should be put down, then that's what we'll do,” Poulsen said.

She said that zoos in Denmark have been killing surplus animals for many years, and that the wave of protests following Sunday's killing in Copenhagen is not deterring Jyllands Park Zoo.

“Many places abroad where they do not do this, the animals live under poor conditions, and they are not allowed to breed either. We don't think that's okay,” she said.

The giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo was dissected in front of crowds at the zoo, and afterwards, some of the carcass was then fed to other zoo animals and some was sent to research projects in Denmark and abroad for study.

Poulsen said Jyllands Park Zoo has not yet considered whether it should carry out a public dissection as the one in Copenhagen.

Reuters

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