This year marks 10 years since Copenhagen Zoo was caught in a global shitstorm for euthanizing a young giraffe. After the euthanasia, the giraffe was autopsied, and as it was too big to lie on the normal autopsy table and it was a cold February day, they decided to perform the autopsy on the ground in front of the veterinary clinic, where there was plenty of space and where the public could witness the autopsy – a great opportunity to convey good biological knowledge about anatomy, organ functions, adaptations to life in the wild and much, much more. And finally, after sending most of the organs to research institutions at home and abroad, the meat – approximately 250 kilos – was distributed to the garden’s predators, including the lions, who were able to taste giraffe meat for the first time in their lives. It was a completely natural process that the Zoo had openly carried out with many other animals over the years, from snakes, goats and antelopes to lions, tigers and zebras that had been euthanized and required autopsies.
The reactions and international criticism
But this time the reaction was completely different. The media reported it as a major drama, and the story went around the world in a matter of hours. Copenhagen Zoo and its employees were portrayed as barbarians, and people from all parts of the world demanded that the Zoo be closed down and the responsible employees, including myself, who at the time was the scientific director and thus also responsible for the decision, be fired. Some even took the opportunity to send death threats against me and my family, as well as against the Zoo’s veterinarian who performed the actual euthanasia and the subsequent autopsy.
The shitstorm’s strongest points of criticism
After the big fuss and many clarifying interviews later, we analyzed the many emails sent to the Zoo during the shitstorm to see what the strongest points of criticism were. And to my amazement, it turned out that what offended people the most was that the Zoo had allowed children to witness the autopsy and to see the lions subsequently being fed half a hindquarter that still had the skin on, so you could see that it came from a giraffe. A third of the 40,000 emails the Zoo received during that period fell into that category. Read the rest of the post at Kristeligt Dagblad.
