The Copenhagen Giraffe

Galen When I was a policewoman I went to a PM and the 'cockiest' young PC fainted. He was sooo embarrassed!

I am so envious Galen The nearest I got, as a student nurse, was to observe operations and occasionally PM's.

I did however see a few fainters when I worked in A & E

Father, not after.

Agus I was helping after at PM's from about 17. My job was mainly to catch the young policemen when they fainted!
Later I had to spend 9/12 dissecting one embalmed corpse as a 1st year medical student.

I totally disagree with that dreadful debacle if they were convince it was inbred a) why were the parents allowed to mate in the first place b) if it happened out of the zoo s control why was it not aborted or better still castrated so it couldn't breed further It was horrible, cruel and is a dreadful sight for children to have to witness There is enough killing in the world that kids are exposed to in the news they don't need more It feel like the Americans who want to watch people writing in the electric chair cant understand that either nor people watching bull fighting for pleasure
I m sure animals are killed in zoos but does it all need to be public like an event, did a cheer go up as the lion devoured that beautiful gentle animal There is something very different about animals killing animals in the wild but this premeditated organised event is shocking

Copenhagen did not do what has been described for China and Baghdad. There was NO CRUELTY involved in the Copenhagen case. None whatsoever.
There is nothing to get stressed about.

No Nightowl, that is not all right. That is cruelty to goats and donkeys.

Lucky you Galen. I genuinely would loved to have seen things like that as a child. Still fascinated by how human and animal bodies function.

When I was young if my mother had a hen, father (a police surgeon) would draw it for her and give me an anatomy lesson. My brother used to retreat upstairs with cries of ' tell me when the post mortem's over!'

Because China and Baghdad do it does that make it ok? Are they our teachers now?

Gosh! I suppose public hanging drawing and quarterings were popular with our not very distant ancestors.
I once saw a lioness nab a rabbit in Woburn. You know how nippy rabbits can be. Not a chance in hell - it was as easy for the lioness as getting an apple out of a fruit bowl is for me. Very impressive. She looked terribly pleased with herself bringing it back to her cubs!

Have just googled - it seems that in 80 zoos in China you can purchase live animals to feed to the lions - $40 for a goat.

In Baghdad in 2007 people were sent out to buy donkeys - three a day for 19 lions - which were fed live (there are videos, if anyone is keen to see)

China has a bad record on animal cruelty and in Baghdad food for everyone and everything wwas scarce.

And are we getting out knickers in a twist about feeding HUMANELY KILLED animals to lions?

I may be being dense but I don't understand the difference between humanely killing a giraffe to feed other animals and killing cows, pigs and lambs to feed ourselves.

Is it just that the giraffe in question was young and cute? Do any of the objectors think about the animals that they eat (assuming that they do).

Dissection of frogs, rabbits and the eyeballs of cows was a normal part of biology lessons when I was at school.

Baghdad and China.

Which ones, Tegan?

Some zoos feed live animals to lions.

Complete with skin, which would answer a comment I read (not on here) saying that they were willing to bet that they sold the skin, or words to that effect.

There are photographs online which seem to show lions contemplating the whole animal.

A friend who is a vet always performed operations after 4.00, perfect for school coming out in our case as DD's went along a few times to see various op.'s. They were fascinated and it was their choice to go or not.

Bought GD's The Body Book as they are also fascinated to find out what goes on inside their bodies.

I think in some cases adults are more squeamish than children who mostly take things in their stride if they are with an adult who doesn't show fear or distaste in any given situation.

Can a creature have dignity after it is dead? Or even when it is alive? Dignity implies it has self awareness about how others see it.
When my son was a about 7 we bought a hare in the market and I dissected it, on his request, rather than just gutted it. We were both very interested to observe that it had an undescended testicle. I also post mortem-ed one of his gerbils who died from an excess of pregnancy. Don't think he ever had the opportunity to see a mammal dissected in school. I think it should be part of everyone's education to learn what "insides" are like. We've all got them.

The thing about it all being done in front of people (who wanted to watch) is that it was made perfectly clear by this that the methods used were humane and that no cruelty was involved. What better way to be "transparent"?

Well, it's clearly a personal thing. Those who wanted to watch did. Those who think it's OK to feed giraffe meat to lions will carry on thinking so, especially when the animal has been well cared for all its life and killed in the most humane way possible.

Butchering (dissection of dead animals) is not looked on as undignified by everyone but as something that has to be done with a dead animal if its meat is to be used as food. I ordered a leg of lamb for xmas once and the butcher sawed the leg bone off for me so that the joint would fit in my oven. I watched him do it and was not upset. It never occurred to me to be upset. No-one and nothing was being hurt. I used the bone to make soup stock.

I suppose the zoo keepers didn't want to give the lions the whole animal, though I don't suppose the lions would have minded. The dismembering would have been a little less "dignified" perhaps.

You can educate people without killing and butchering them in front of people though, surely. The issue isn't about what was done but the way in which it was done ie to allow the creature some sort of dignity in it's death.

What the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria says about it.

Given that zoos are evolving as much as the world we live in and the animals that live in it, I think what Copenhagen Zoo have done is shot themselves in the foot in this case. Maybe zoos like Twycross should court more publicity about the conservation work they do? I know that those of us that eat meat are two faced when we get upset at the sight of animals being killed to provide food, but any PR machine should factor that inconsistency into their dealings with the public.