The Copenhagen Zoo killed a 2-year-old giraffe and fed its remains to lions as visitors watched saying it needed to prevent inbreeding, CNN reported.
Twenty thousand people signed a petition in order to stop the killing and other individuals and groups offered to give the giraffe a new home, but the zoo declined because technically they governed the giraffes and not own them therefore cannot sell them, according to CNN.
The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria supported the zoo's decision to put down Marius the giraffe because there already were a lot of giraffes with similar genes in the organization's breeding program, CNN reported
The zoo invited visitors to see the skinning and feeding to the giraffe to the lion after they put him down using a pistol, according to CNN. The zoo has seven giraffes left.
Copenhagen Zoo do not give giraffes contraceptives or castrate them because of unwanted side effects on it can cause in their internal organs, CNN reported. The zoo regards parental care as important.
The Amsterdam-based EAZA has 347 members, including many large zoos in European capitals, and works to conserve global biodiversity and achieve the highest standards of care and breeding for animals, according to CNN.
Bengt Holst, Copenhagen Zoo's scientific director, said it turned down an offer from Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Britain, which is a member of EAZA, because Marius' older brother lives there and the park's space could be better used by a "genetically more valuable giraffe," CNN reported.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park said it called the zoo on Saturday with a last-minute offer to house Marius in a new giraffe house with room for an extra male, CNN reported. It said it was saddened by the killing of Marius, but "without knowing the full details it would be inappropriate to comment further."
"I know the giraffe is a nice looking animal, but I don't think there would have been such an outrage if it had been an antelope, and I don't think anyone would have lifted an eyebrow if it was a pig," said Holst.
