Hundreds of people gather to watch dissection of nine-month-old creature, one of three that Odense zoo put down in February

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Danish zoo has publicly dissected a nine-month-old male lion, pulling out its organs to show to visitors as part of an educational event staged during the school holidays.

The lion was one of three that Odense zoo in central Denmark put down in February, on the grounds it had too many big cats and could not find a home for the surplus.

The public dissection of a zoo’s lion is essential viewing for meat-eaters | Helen Russell Read more

Between 300 and 400 adults and children gathered around zoo guide Rasmus Kolind as he began the dissection by cutting off the lion’s tongue. Adult spectators held scarves to their noses to ward off the pungent smell as they watched.

“Wouldn’t it be stranger if I were standing here cutting up an animal that smelled like flowers or something else?” Kolind told the crowd. “Dead animals smell like dead animals. There’s not a lot to say about that,” he said.

“I don’t want to see that,” one boy said, but a girl interviewed by public broadcaster DR described the event as “fun to see but also a bit disgusting”.

Employee Lotte Tranberg said the male lion and its two siblings were killed in February because they were getting sexually mature and could have started mating with each other and the zoo wanted to avoid inbreeding. They also could have killed each other because they would have been kept in the same enclosure, she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest For years, animals have been regularly dissected in Odense in order to teach children about nature. Photograph: Julia Wäschenbach/DPA/Corbis

Ole Hanson, a 54-year-old military officer, carried his 5-year-old grandson Frej on his shoulders so he could watch the dissection as it started. “But he wanted to get down and have a closer look. So he ended up [at the] front, right before the lion,” Hanson said.

“For all the kids living in towns, it’s wonderful for them to see and it’s only natural,” said Gitte Johanson, 28, another visitor who grew up on a farm.

The zoo said it decided to dissect a male lion this time because it was bigger than its female sibling. The remains of the two other siblings – another male and a female – are still in a zoo freezer, and officials have not decided what to do with them, said Jens Odgaard Olsson, manager of the zoo.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A zoo employee carries out the dissection. Photograph: Scanpix Denmark/Reuters

Joanna Swabe, from a Brussels-based animal protection group, criticised Odense zoo for killing three healthy young lions this year.



“Zoos routinely over-breed and kill lions and thousands of other animals deemed surplus to requirements,” she said, adding that zoos have “an ethical responsibility” and can use contraceptive options “to manage reproduction, prevent inbreeding [and] maintain genetically healthy populations”.

On Facebook, a few dozen people accused the zoo and Denmark of lacking compassion. But on the zoo’s Facebook page, others defended the dissection, asking English-speaking commentators whether they had ever been to a slaughterhouse.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Members of the media film the dissection. Photograph: Scanpix Denmark/Reuters

“Life isn’t the Disney Channel. Get over it,” wrote Mikael Soenderskov, one of the Danes defending the dissection.

Public dissections are common in Denmark. The Funen Village, an open-air museum in Odense, slaughtered and dissected a pig on Wednesday in front of children, while explaining which parts of the animal are eaten.

Odense zoo itself was elected best zoo in Europe with up to 500,000 visitors per year, in 2013 and 2015.



In February 2014, Copenhagen zoo faced international protests after a giraffe was killed, dissected and fed to lions in front of children.