Feed him to the lions! Marius the Giraffe
How could they? How could they slaughter that lovely wee
giraffe in a ghoulish sideshow in front of all those teensy weensy children
like that? How could they feed him to the lions for all to see? The outrage!
The horror! The furore! ……… but actually, hey…….wait a minute, when you think
of it …….. Isn’t it the role of a zoo to educate? Isn’t it much more
hypocritical to ferry redundant animals off to abattoirs and kill them behind
closed doors? And I’m pretty sure giraffe is exactly what those lions
should be eating. Much better for them than any of the stuff they get most
days. I beginning to think I’m with Copenhagen on this one after all.
The Question:
The culling of Marius the giraffe in
Copenhagen zoo to prevent inbreeding, has caused a huge backlash particularly
in Britain and Ireland. Are we in these islands over emotional and sympathetic
towards animals? Why should this be the case, particularly in Ireland when many
of us are close to farming, where farmers have to cull animals on a frequent
basis?
Oh dear! I think our Jerry was a tad disappointed in us all. Were we not all outraged, indignant, deeply offended by the culling of poor wee Marius? Poor, cute, wee, long lashes Marius? Felled by a single shot to his cutsie, wutsie, wee head and unceremoniously chopped up for dinner for the lions. But no, Jerry dear. Not a hint of sentimentality in the room, I'm afraid! Sorry to let you down, chief, but well, I got the distinct impression that everyone there was thinking the same as me: 'I wonder what giraffe tastes like slow cooked in red wine and garlic sauce.'
ReplyDeleteAnd if we are all prepared to accept that it is perfectly ok to keep wild animals locked up in zoos all their life, even if they are in superior pens, then it makes sense to recognise that we don't much mind if the odd giraffe is deemed supplementary to requirements. Wasn't much of a life anyway, was it?