# Danish zoo euthanizes shealthy giraffe. Rage, or meh? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 11, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056 "2014-02-11T14:10:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/21 "2014-02-11T17:28:13Z")
Put me in the “meh” camp. AFAICT the giraffe was butchered in public but slaughtered in private. Kids should know where meat comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/22 "2014-02-11T17:54:11Z")
Vegetarian here, and I fall into the “circle of life/shitty genetic mix” category, but fuck that zoo for apparently screwing up more than once in their genetic diversity planning. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/23 "2014-02-11T18:01:47Z")
Oh, and if you really want to be pissed off at a zoo, Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia is being called the [Zoo of Death](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25908531) by some, especially after grotesque events like a young lion managing to hang itself on cables inside its cage, and a dead giraffe’s autopsy showing pounds of plastic wrappers in its stomach. Accusations are that neglect, mistreatment, crowding, etc., are widespread, and there was a report from a few years ago saying that a couple dozen animals die prematurely there each **month**. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/24 "2014-02-11T18:12:18Z")
From the video it looks like the audience knew what was happening and decided to watch. It’s not like they dragged it into the petting zoo and said “Right, may want to step back kids, the floors about to get slippery…” ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/25 "2014-02-11T18:25:52Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > The main problem with this is that they really shouldn’t be breeding the giraffes if they don’t have either the space or inclination to rehome them. The same zoo, in the past, has allowed the leopards to breed then euthanized the cubs when they stopped being cute. > > I mean, from a pure conservation standpoint, I suppose I can see the sense, but I don’t see how allowing a large zoo animal to breed when there is no home for the young is any less irresponsible than letting your domestic cat breed freely. **Filbert** nails it in one. Irresponsible “backyard breeding” is contemptible when amateurs do it, because they know better (we’ve told them). It’s worse than contemptible when professionals do it. Note the part about breeding cute cubs (presumably to bring in visitor traffic?) then whacking them when no longer fuzzy. Note the part that other zoos don’t do this. Speaking of other zoos, we seem to have a lot of zoo officials. Maybe more than we can usefully house and feed, capiche? > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > One of the complaints I heard is that this public event “desensitizes people to the brutal killing of an animal.” I take issues with the “brutal” descriptor, since a bullet/bolt to the brain is surely as painless as a sedative overdose. But apart from that, is it true? Does watching while an animal is killed and dismembered desensitize you to it? Conversely, does never witnessing such a thing maintain your sensitivity to it? Should we avoid watching all those nature documentaries that show a lion slowly asphyxiating a zebra, or a pack of hyenas ripping into a wildebeest while it’s still alive? > > Is it maybe worthwhile for people to see (if they’re interested), and viscerally understand, that a process very much like this is required in order to make a hamburger for them? Albert Schweitzer, vegetarian, who considered his reverence for life to be his most important legacy, famously said “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” Paul McCartney was even more direct: “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” People hide that stuff from themselves. I don’t think showing slaughter necessarily encourages (normal) people; I think it puts them off their lunch. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/26 "2014-02-11T18:29:55Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It’s still better than just setting it loose in the lion enclosure. Actually, that’s what I was thinking they should have done. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/27 "2014-02-11T18:40:41Z")
They gave him a name and put him on display, that makes him more like a pet than a farm animal to me. I’m aware of the practicalities involved but I think this was definitely a public relations own goal. I live near Yorkshire Wildlife Park, they are making a practice of rehoming animals from poor conditions, like[these lions](http://news.sky.com/story/769466/rescued-lions-are-the-pride-of-yorkshire). I saw them a few months after they moved into their large new enclosure and they were looking good. If YWP was willing to care for this giraffe for the rest of it’s natural life I do not see why they were not allowed to. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/28 "2014-02-11T18:47:06Z")
I’m more bothered by the supposed ‘outrage’ that the media tries to manufacture all of the time. We don’t have all of the information on this instance, the people there who are closest to the situation made the best decision they could have and I’m not going to second guess them. I’m done with all the ‘OUTRAGE’ that I’m supposed to be feeling everyday. in fact i’m ironically outraged by it. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/29 "2014-02-11T18:56:01Z")
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, lions gotta eat. People need to remember (or maybe learn for the first time) where food comes from. Circle of life confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/30 "2014-02-11T19:03:33Z")
[EAZA Executive Director on the killing of Marius.](http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/10/opinion/giraffe-cull-argument-for/) ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/31 "2014-02-11T19:12:10Z")
I guess if you live in a Danish zoo, keep your head down. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/32 "2014-02-11T19:20:46Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > > [@bump](#): > > > > It’s still better than just setting it loose in the lion enclosure. > > Actually, that’s what I was thinking they should have done. Go to YouTube and search on “Harbin Zoo feeding”. This is a zoo in China, and that’s pretty much how the feed the big cats there, albeit with cows/goats/chickens instead of giraffes. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/33 "2014-02-11T19:22:06Z")
They should have had a fund raising barbecue with some of it. How often does one get to taste giraffe? ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/34 "2014-02-11T19:27:35Z")
I was moderately outraged when I heard they just “put him down,” but I suppose if there were restrictions on another zoo taking him, it’s far more understandable. I had no problem whatsoever with feeding him to the lions–the lions gotta eat, and what else are you going to do with hundreds of pounds of dead giraffe? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/35 "2014-02-11T19:30:28Z")
I read the title and thought this was going to be about a giraffe in a stealthy sheath – you know, shealthy. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/36 "2014-02-11T19:31:57Z")
Oh sure, when the _zoo_ does it it’s okay, but when _I_ go to the zoo and do it it’s a apparently a huge freaking deal all of a sudden. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/37 "2014-02-11T20:00:27Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > I haven’t bothered reading up on the incident since it didn’t interest me, but if in fact it was butchered\*\* in public,\*\* especially in front of children, THAT I would be concerned about (just as I would be concerned if a cow was slaughtered and butchered with a similar audience). Everything I heard said it was a public _autopsy_. Meaning it was probably intended as educational, not just shock value. Frankly, I’m cool with it. I wouldn’t even be opposed to more zoos doing it, in the name of education, big cat quality of life, and genetics. I’d still say don’t let anybody see the giraffe autopsy by surprise. Make sure the audience knows what it’s getting into. Other than that though, let er rip. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/38 "2014-02-11T20:08:51Z")
“Autopsy” is a weird way to put it. “Cause of death: we shot it.” ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/39 "2014-02-11T20:19:49Z")
Rage. > [@phouka](#): > > Sad about the necessity. Zoos do not have bottomless pockets, and an animal that is no use to the breeding program can’t be kept indefinitely. \*\*They made an attempt to relocate the giraffe but were unable to find any takers. > \*\* Not true. There were other zoos in Europe and America willing to pay to take him. This zoo bred him, knowing what genes he would have. The truth is, baby animals bring visitors to the zoo. Easy to breed, lots of money coming in from people looking at the ickle wittle babies. Then it’s just another mouth to feed for the next 30 years. Zoos have a responsibility to breed for long-term goals. If they’re over-breeding, they should have their license revoked. StG ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056/40 "2014-02-11T20:35:59Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Rage. > > Not true. There were other zoos in Europe and America willing to pay to take him. This zoo bred him, knowing what genes he would have. The truth is, baby animals bring visitors to the zoo. Easy to breed, lots of money coming in from people looking at the ickle wittle babies. Then it’s just another mouth to feed for the next 30 years. > > Zoos have a responsibility to breed for long-term goals. If they’re over-breeding, they should have their license revoked. Why? Why not breed/display prey animals, and then use them as food for the carnivores in the zoo? They need meat from somewhere, and if the zoo raises the prey animals and charges admission for people to see them, then isn’t this is a better deal for everyone than paying a farmer to raise/slaughter/deliver sides of beef to the zoo? Admission fees for people to come see giraffes/goats/wildebeest offsets the cost of feeding them; the same can’t be said for buying beef from a farm. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danish-zoo-euthanizes-shealthy-giraffe-rage-or-meh/681056.md?page=3)