Zoo kills healthy giraffe and feeds remains to carnivores

[madd0ct0r]

dunno. if the ticket stubbs went up enough after the giraffe incident, it might be good pr. It's not like most of the online circus are likely to visit a zoo in copenhagen.

[Edi]

I read an article on this (on Salon.com) and it said that the zoo had tried and failed to find new homes for the lion cubs. I don't know what the regulations are regarding who they could work with in a situation like that and if potential partner zoos or other facilities did not have room. All that said, this time around it looks really bad for them PR-wise.

[Borgholio]

this time around it looks really bad for them PR-wise.

Looked bad for them last time...this time people are outraged.

[Scrib]

It always looked bad for them. I personally find the PR argument weak. It seems a bit like concern trolling no? No one here really gives a shit about the PR state of the zoo. It's just a convenient way to attack them by bypassing all the technical reasons by appealing to consequences and allowing you to vent your frustrations."Oh, I mean, it's your choice and you may have your reasons but bad move PR wise". You don't have to indulge people's desires.

Personally, the main concern is whether their previous arguments applied and were valid. From what I remember they were at the very least plausible but I'll look again.

[Alyrium Denryle]

You know, a male lion coming into a new pride DOES usually kill the offspring of the prior male... I suppose the upset crowd would prefer THAT over a medical euthanasia?

This was a problem of their own making. Is there any reason why they couldn't have waited until the cubs were old enough to be separated from their mother before bringing in a new animal, instead of killing four to make room for one?

Indeed. Besides, healthy lion cubs are a prized item for many zoos. This is dickery pure and simple, and I heavily suspect some really bad management on part of the zoo administration.

No. They are not. They tried and failed to find homes for the cubs, the male likely had to be moved himself in a time-critical way (like reaching sexual maturity in a pride controlled by an adult male). The two adults they euthanized were well past normal lifespan for a lion, and while I cannot find ANYTHING from the zoo as of this morning regarding their health status, my guess is that their health is in decline. The adult male they had to kill would himself have been killed by the new male, and the lioness may have suffered at his teeth and claws as well.

Is the Copenhagen Zoo offing an unusual number of animals, over the long haul? Or is it just that killing the giraffe caused them to make the news and now everyone's paying attention.

The latter.

[mr friendly guy]

Why can't the zoo just say, ok we won't take the new male lion if we can't find places for the young cubs? Even if no other zoo could take the young cubs, what's the chances that no zoo could take the young cubs or take the new adult male?

[Jub]

Likely because the male lion was coming of age and it was time sensitive. Also, don't you think that zoos are likely smart enough to transfer things to minimize culls?

[Alyrium Denryle]

Why can't the zoo just say, ok we won't take the new male lion if we can't find places for the young cubs? Even if no other zoo could take the young cubs, what's the chances that no zoo could take the young cubs or take the new adult male?

It is likely that no EZA (IIRC, that is the acronym) accredited zoo has the space, or for that matter, the capacity to keep them at all. Cubs will be REALLY difficult to place, because they wont survive introduction into a new pride, so unless someone has no lions, they CANT be moved.

Their male was old, and the younger male needed to be moved before he challenged his father for the right to mate with his mom, sisters, aunts and cousins. Contrary to disney, you really dont want him pulling a Simba.

[Scrib]

Why can't the zoo just say, ok we won't take the new male lion if we can't find places for the young cubs? Even if no other zoo could take the young cubs, what's the chances that no zoo could take the young cubs or take the new adult male?

It is likely that no EZA (IIRC, that is the acronym) accredited zoo has the space, or for that matter, the capacity to keep them at all. Cubs will be REALLY difficult to place, because they wont survive introduction into a new pride, so unless someone has no lions, they CANT be moved.

Their male was old, and the younger male needed to be moved before he challenged his father for the right to mate with his mom, sisters, aunts and cousins. Contrary to disney, you really dont want him pulling a Simba.

Funnily enough, that sounds pretty interesting. I think Lion King is up for a darkier and grittier re-imagining.

[Simon_Jester]

Hm. If this is common then we have a serious "overpopulated zoo" problem, which needs a solution in its own right. What might be done in that case?

[Scrib]

Hm. If this is common then we have a serious "overpopulated zoo" problem, which needs a solution in its own right. What might be done in that case?

Depends on how you define overpopulated:

The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria -- a body governing 345 institutions -- said that the Copenhagen Zoo had not broken its codes of conduct and that it "has been consistent in its approach to animal population management, and high standards of animal welfare."

European Association of Zoos and Aquaria spokesman David Williams-Mitchell told CNN that across the European zoos governed by the body, about 3,000 to 5,000 animals are killed each year under programs to manage zoo populations.

This includes "everything from tadpoles and insects up to charismatic megafauna like giraffes and lions," he said, adding that it represents only 0.06% of the zoos' overall animal population.

Exact figures are hard to come by, but a few hundred of those killed by the zoos each year would be large animals, he said.

So a few thousand animals per year with a few hundred being the animals people give a shit about over 350 institutions. You think that's a big overpopulation problem? (I'm seriously asking here).

Of course, part of the problem is simply that the zoos have to get rid of some of these animals for breeding and there's no organization that needs them for their program so they're just extraneous. It seems like a natural part of the game, especially if the animal makes you choose between killing one or letting them do it.

[Simon_Jester]

That in turn depends on my use of the word "common." If there are, say, three thousand lions in zoos in Europe (a very rough number that I just made up off the top of my head), and about ten or twenty lions are being killed by the zoos for want of a place to put them, arguably that is not a serious overpopulation problem.

On the other hand, if the number were more like a hundred lions a year, arguably that would be an overpopulation problem.