New zoo controversy – lion to be dissected in front of kids

Odense Zoo in central Denmark has invited children to watch a lion being dissected next week, one year after staff at Copenhagen Zoo received death threats for letting kids watch a dead giraffe being cut open, according to seven59.dk and the British Daily Mail.

Wallberg Sorensen, a zookeeper at the Odense Zoo, said the animal was put down nine months ago because the zoo had too many lions and it has since been kept in a freezer.

”We’re doing this in public because we believe there’s a lot of education involved in dissecting a lion,” he said, adding that the zoo has performed public dissections of lions in the past without prompting any negative reactions. ”Visitors find it interesting to see a lion cut up.”

Doctor Pieter Kat of LionAid said: ”European zoos continue breeding programmes for lions, with no conservation benefit. As a result, zoos end up with more animals than they can handle.”

Copenhagen Zoo prompted a storm of criticism in February last year for putting down a healthy giraffe and dissecting it in front of children.

The zoo’s scientific director received death threats after Marius, a healthy 18-month-old giraffe, was put down despite numerous offers for him to be rehoused and thousands signing an online petition to save him.

Read the original article here.

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