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| 'Surplus' giraffe put down at Copenhagen Zoo | 'Surplus' giraffe put down at Copenhagen Zoo |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A bid to save a young giraffe from destruction at Copenhagen Zoo has failed, and the giraffe was put down on Sunday morning. | A bid to save a young giraffe from destruction at Copenhagen Zoo has failed, and the giraffe was put down on Sunday morning. |
| Thousands of people had signed an online petitions appealing for a change of heart over the two-year-old called Marius. | |
| The zoo said it had no choice because of its duty to avoid in-breeding. | The zoo said it had no choice because of its duty to avoid in-breeding. |
| Marius was due to be killed by a bolt gun, not a lethal injection, which would contaminate the meat. | Marius was due to be killed by a bolt gun, not a lethal injection, which would contaminate the meat. |
| The carcass will partly be used for research and partly to feed carnivores at the zoo. | The carcass will partly be used for research and partly to feed carnivores at the zoo. |
| 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 reportedly put in a last-ditch offers to take Marius in. | 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 reportedly put in a last-ditch offers to take Marius in. |
| 'Good practice' | 'Good practice' |
| Stine Jensen, from Denmark's Organisation Against the Suffering of Animals, said Copenhagen Zoo was behaving unethically. | Stine Jensen, from Denmark's Organisation Against the Suffering of Animals, said Copenhagen Zoo was behaving unethically. |
| "This situation should not have occurred at all. It just shows that the zoo is in fact not the ethical institution that it wants to portray itself as being, because here you have a waste product - that being Marius. | "This situation should not have occurred at all. It just shows that the zoo is in fact not the ethical institution that it wants to portray itself as being, because here you have a waste product - that being Marius. |
| "Here we have a zoo which thinks that putting this giraffe down instead of thinking of alternatives is the best option," she said. | "Here we have a zoo which thinks that putting this giraffe down instead of thinking of alternatives is the best option," she said. |
| But Bengt Holst, scientific director at the Danish zoo, defended Marius's destruction, saying that the giraffes at the zoo bred very well, and where this was the case giraffes had to be selected to ensure the best genes were passed down to ensure the animal's long-term survival. | But Bengt Holst, scientific director at the Danish zoo, defended Marius's destruction, saying that the giraffes at the zoo bred very well, and where this was the case giraffes had to be selected to ensure the best genes were passed down to ensure the animal's long-term survival. |
| He told the BBC it was a responsible practice on the part of zoos to manage their animal populations to ensure they remained healthy, with some 20-30 animals put down at Copenhagen Zoo in a typical year. | He told the BBC it was a responsible practice on the part of zoos to manage their animal populations to ensure they remained healthy, with some 20-30 animals put down at Copenhagen Zoo in a typical year. |
| "Giraffes today breed very well, and when they do you have to choose and make sure the ones you keep are the ones with the best genes," Mr Holst told the BBC. | "Giraffes today breed very well, and when they do you have to choose and make sure the ones you keep are the ones with the best genes," Mr Holst told the BBC. |
| He said all zoos had been considered and there was no place for Marius - including at Yorkshire where, he said, any space should be reserved for a genetically more important giraffe. The campaign to save him, he said, had gone "much too far". | He said all zoos had been considered and there was no place for Marius - including at Yorkshire where, he said, any space should be reserved for a genetically more important giraffe. The campaign to save him, he said, had gone "much too far". |
| Animal rights campaigners have described the move as barbaric and have accused the zoo of being unethical. | Animal rights campaigners have described the move as barbaric and have accused the zoo of being unethical. |
| The director of a wildlife park in the Netherlands, Robert Krijuff, whose last-minute offer of a place was also rejected, said: "I can't believe it. We offered to save his life. Zoos need to change the way they do business." | The director of a wildlife park in the Netherlands, Robert Krijuff, whose last-minute offer of a place was also rejected, said: "I can't believe it. We offered to save his life. Zoos need to change the way they do business." |