Put me in the “meh” camp.
AFAICT the giraffe was butchered in public but slaughtered in private.
Kids should know where meat comes from.
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.
Oh, and if you really want to be pissed off at a zoo, Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia is being called the Zoo of Death 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.
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…”
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?
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.
Actually, that’s what I was thinking they should have done.
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, likethese lions. 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.
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.
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.
I guess if you live in a Danish zoo, keep your head down.
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.
They should have had a fund raising barbecue with some of it. How often does one get to taste giraffe?
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?
I read the title and thought this was going to be about a giraffe in a stealthy sheath – you know, shealthy.
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.
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.
“Autopsy” is a weird way to put it. “Cause of death: we shot it.”
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.
StG
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.