

Danish zoo sparks outrage by killing healthy giraffe - linux_devil
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/09/danish-zoo-outrage-giraffe-marius

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kseistrup
Get over it. The meat from the giraffe was fed to other animals in the zoo.

Hundreds, if not thouands, of cows are killed in Denmark each day to provide
meat, hides, and other products for people in Denmark and abroad.

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heydenberk
It almost seems like animal classism. I feel the same way when people call the
cops on their neighbors for leaving a dog outside in a yard all day, but
express no moral outrage at the plight of stray dogs.

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kseistrup
Good example!

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dalke
Not a good example. The neighbors are likely familiar with the dog, and the
neighbor, but not with the stray.

Consider that most people care much more if a close friend dies than if some
stranger on the other side of the world dies.

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heydenberk
But isn't the innocent and natural bias toward sympathy with familiar subjects
an ultimate cause of classism?

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dalke
Certainly not. A wealthy slaveholder could feel sympathy with the slaves and
not want them beaten unnecessarily, and care more about the good treatment of
the slaves of neighbors than to those held on another land and continent.

The upper-class homes of 1800s Britain had many working class servants. I have
no doubt that in general there was some sympathy more for one's own servants
over those of a neighbor's, and even more than for British landowners in
Ireland.

That is, classism exists even in the presence of "the innocent and natural
bias toward sympathy", because there's nothing in sympathy which demands the
object of sympathy be treated as an equal.

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mseepgood
> The zoo defended the decision to slaughter Marius, saying that to send
> Marius to another zoo would also risk problems of inbreeding, as Marius's
> genes were already well represented among giraffes at the zoo.

Is it not possible to fix a giraffe? I know it's possible with cats.

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pax
reference pls? how does one fix them cats?

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latch
It also took me a couple seconds to understand what the parent was saying.

He's saying that, if the concern is with inbreeding, why not neuter it [as you
would a cat]. Which, to me, isn't a bad question.

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d0ugie
For those curious, the giraffe may have been killed (or "stunned" and then
killed some other way) with one of these:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_bolt_pistol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_bolt_pistol)

Made famous by No Country for Old Men.

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kseistrup
According to Danish newspapers the giraffe had anesthesia, then it was put
down with a bolt pistol.

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kseistrup
Here's a statement in English from the zoo in question ⌘
[http://www.zoo.dk/BesogZoo/Nyhedsarkiv/2014/Februar/Why%20Co...](http://www.zoo.dk/BesogZoo/Nyhedsarkiv/2014/Februar/Why%20Copenhagen%20Zoo%20euthanized%20a%20giraffe.aspx)

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polack
I would be more outraged about the fact that some people brought their
childrent to an autopsy :)

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infobandit
Yeah... If people could stop linking to junk food news that'd be great...

