Marius, a male giraffe, lies dead before being dissected,. Credit:AP Some grimaced while others took photos. A full-maned lion later tucked into the giraffe's remains in full view of the public. "It was put down at 9.20. It went as planned. It's always the people's right to protest. But of course we have been surprised," zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro said. He said some zoo staff had received death threats including scientific director Bengt Holst who "received a call in the middle of the night".

People protest outside Copenhagen Zoo. Credit:AP A spokesman for the zoo told the Associated Press the event allowed parents to decide whether their children should watch what the zoo regarded as an important display of scientific knowledge about animals. "I'm actually proud because I think we have given children a huge understanding of the anatomy of a giraffe that they wouldn't have had from watching a giraffe in a photo," Stenbaek Bro told AP. The carcass of Marius, a male giraffe, is eaten by lions after he was put down in Copenhagen Zoo. Credit:AP He said the zoo, which now had seven giraffes left, followed the recommendation of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) to put down Marius because there were already a lot of giraffes with similar genes in the organisation's breeding program.

In a statement on its website, the zoo said that under EAZA rules, inbreeding between giraffes was to be avoided. The Amsterdam-based EAZA has 347 members, including many large zoos in European capitals, and aims to conserve global biodiversity and achieve the highest standards of care and breeding for animals. Stenbaek Bro said EAZA membership was not mandatory, but most responsible zoos were members of the organisation. Stenbaek Bro said a significant part of EAZA membership was that the zoos do not own the animals themselves, but govern them, and therefore cannot sell them to anyone outside the organisation that doesn't follow the same set of rules. He also said it was important for the breeding programs to work.

The zoo said it had no choice other than to prevent the animal from attaining adulthood, stating that castration was considered cruel with "undesirable effects" and there was no program to release giraffes into the wild. The giraffe's impending death sparked outrage online, with more than 33,000 people signing various "Save Marius" petitions. A Danish promoter living in Los Angeles, Claus Hjelmbak, told a Danish newspaper he had found a buyer, but that the zoo's director was not interested in a sale. Holst said Copenhagen Zoo 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". Yorkshire Wildlife Park said it called Copenhagen Zoo on Saturday with a last-minute offer to house Marius in a new giraffe house with room for an extra male. It said it was saddened by the killing of Marius, but "without knowing the full details it would be inappropriate to comment further".

Copenhagen Zoo also turned down an offer from a zoo in northern Sweden, because it was not an EAZA member and did not want to comply with the same high standards, Holst said. "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," Holst said. Copenhagen Zoo does not give giraffes contraceptives or castrate them because that could have unwanted side effects on their internal organs, and the zoo regards parental care as important, Holst said. EAZA said it supported the zoo's decision to "humanely put the animal down and believes strongly in the need for genetic and demographic management within animals in human care". However, the organisation Animal Rights Sweden said the case highlights what it believes zoos do to animals regularly.

"It is no secret that animals are killed when there is no longer space, or if the animals don't have genes that are interesting enough," it said in a statement. "The only way to stop this is to not visit zoos. "When the cute animal babies that attract visitors grow up, they are not as interesting any more," it said. Elisa Allen, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Britain, said Marius' case should serve as a wake-up call for anyone who "still harbours the illusion that zoos serve any purpose beyond incarcerating intelligent animals for profit". Loading

She said in a statement, "Giraffes rarely die of old age in captivity, and had Marius not been euthanised today, he would have lived out his short life as a living exhibit, stranded in a cold climate, thousands of miles away from his true home." AFP, AP