Marius the giraffe from the Copenhagen Zoo was killed. The guardians of the Danish facility, ignoring thousands of requests for clemency from every corner of the world with online petitions and protests, shot down the one-and-a-half-year-old male cub in the head, then dismembered him and fed him to the lions in front. to hundreds of visitors, including many children.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
She was killed there Marius giraffe from the Copenhagen Zoo. The guardians of the Danish facility, ignoring thousands of requests for clemency from every corner of the world with online petitions and protests, shot down the one-and-a-half-year-old male cub in the head, then dismembered him and fed him to the lions in front. to hundreds of visitors, including many children.
Torn apart in front of Danish media cameras, Marius was the result of an endogamous relationship, therefore between relatives, a principle prohibited by the rules of EU zoos. His genes, in fact, were too similar to other giraffes in a breeding program run by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).
A terrible end that the scientific director of the zoo, Bengt Holst, continues to justify by talking about something inevitable. "If all species reproduce well, then it must be accepted that there is a surplus of animals that cannot be included in the genetic chain without causing inbreeding problems," has explained in a statement. Nevertheless, at least two natural parks wanted to relocate the animal, in addition to the purchase proposal of a wealthy benefactor eager to avoid this atrocious end to the animal.
The deliberate killing of Marius evidently calls into question, once again, the role of zoos. '' These captive structures - declares the scientific director of Enpa, Ilaria Ferri - in which not only the freedom of animals is deprived, but alleged roles such as conservation, research and education are proclaimed, instead have very different interests and certainly act against animals. We consider what happened a very serious fact; unfortunately it is not to be considered rare as many structures deliberately eliminate, without even providing for any exchanges and without taking the path of welcoming the supernumerary specimens at the sanctuaries or better still at birth control ''.
Faced with such a chilling gesture, indeed Enpa immediately wrote to the European Union Zoos and Aquariums (Eaza), and to Cites, and it will also affect the European Parliament of the fact that it violates, as well as all logic, numerous regulations. '' It is an event of unprecedented barbarism, of which everyone must become aware - continues Ferri - I invite people not to visit zoos and other captive structures because in this way they make themselves run and co-responsible for a system of coercion and violence, which deprives animals of their freedom and which often causes their death, as happened to the poor giraffe ". There were many better options than the bloody killing. What is worse is that one death has been made of this death atrocious public spectacle.
To sign the petition against the Copenhagen Zoo click here
Roberta Ragni
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