Zoo kills giraffe, feeds it to the lions, tears of rage flood the net

[theprestige]

On a car tour of Longleat a bit later, with our young children, we passed lions chewing on calves' heads. What to say to the kids?

"Nature red in tooth and claw"?

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

On a car tour of Longleat a bit later, with our young children, we passed lions chewing on calves' heads. What to say to the kids?

"I swear, if you don't stop fighting on the backseat now, that's what's gonna happen!"

 

[Jim_MDP]

"I swear, if you don't stop fighting on the backseat now, that's what's gonna happen!"

Parenting... you're doing it right.

100 points awarded.

 

[p0lka]

Hey, for those of you that are seriously shocked, here is a video of a giraffe killing a lion.

I did not see a giraffe killing a lion in that video,
giraffe playing with a dead lion, yes.

 

[Dragonrock]

I believe I saw that, but I'm fairly sure it was hyenas on a wildebeest. Lions get a throat grip and asphyxiate the prey, leading to a relatively quick death. A pack of hyenas just start chewing as soon as the the animal is down. Juvenile lions would be accompanied by adults who know the score.

Not saying that's a bad thing about the hyenas, mind, as all these animals risk getting evicted from their kill by others. Lions can even get seen off a kill by hyenas or vultures, just by the sheer hassle factor.

No, it was lions. After they brought it down one clamped the throat while the others began feeding. The one on the throat realized he was missing out on the feast so he let go and joined in. Then the buffalo woke up and another would choke it unconscious. This happened several times until the buffalo was too injured to move enough to disturb the lion's feast. Then it just lay there braying.

 

[Prometheus]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/copenhagen-zoo-kills-giraffe-marius-to-prevent-inbreeding-1.2529522

The only problem I have with this is that they missed a serious opportunity to answer the question "What does bbq giraffe taste like?" Yeah lions eat giraffes... but so do humans! Could have turned a tiny profit there...

And this is why zoos are heavily regulated and usually belong to elite associations because if you let the public decide how we manage animals, everything would be **********.

Hey, for those of you that are seriously shocked, here is a video of a giraffe killing a lion.

I don't like giraffe meat. It has a weird kind of medicine-y aftertaste, kind of like chicken marinated in Listerine.

 

[Kahalachan]

They should've fed the lion tofu instead.

 

[Rasmus]

There was even a bizarre attempt by some PR rule10 to organise for a billionaire friend of his to buy the giraffe, which was naturally rejected right out.

can't think of why...

 

[KDLarsen]

The Scientific Director of Copenhagen Zoo went on Channel 4 news yesterday. That was a bemusing experience...

 

[TheGoldcountry]

Wow, I thought Fox News was bad. What a transparent hit piece. The director had calm, rational answers for all the questions, and they wanted nothing but to vilify him in public. What a joke.

 

[Sideroxylon]

From the outrage I can only assume these lions usually eat cabbages and carrots, and a bit of meat is a special treat for them.

Bill Nye doesn't think they eat broccoli though.

 

[drelda]

The Scientific Director of Copenhagen Zoo went on Channel 4 news yesterday. That was a bemusing experience...

The zoo director made complete sense in this. Is this the interview that that was supposedly 'undiplomatic' then I don't see that at all.

I suspect people get worked up about this because it forces them to confront the fact that their fluffy ideas about keeping animals is nonsense - i.e. they want to pretend that its like in a kids film where all the animals are cute etc. (and maybe even talk to each other in English and sing songs!).

They would rather that anything that conflicts with this childish view is hidden away behind closed doors so they can carry on pretending.

I have every respect for people who understand the reality of keeping animals - and reject it entirely - ie they are against zoos, eating meat and dairy, using leather etc. They have a coherent point of view - so whilst I don't agree with them - at least they aren't trying to have it both ways.

Even the hard core vegan animal rights crowd would agree that this giraffe probably had better care and a better quality of life than the average beef cow. Surely therefore it was better to feed the lions this giraffe than that cow? If the zoo is going to keep lions, surely its better for them to raise and kill animals themselves - so they can be sure its done in the best possible way - rather than buy in commercially raised beef?

Ah - but a giraffe is a cute, interesting animal - often appearing in children's stories/films - therefore they deserve special protection - as opposed to cows that nobody gives a crap about apparently.

- Drelda

 

[MRC_Hans]

I suspect people get worked up about this because it forces them to confront the fact that their fluffy ideas about keeping animals is nonsense - i.e. they want to pretend that its like in a kids film where all the animals are cute etc. (and maybe even talk to each other in English and sing songs!).

Yeah! Once I had Animal Planet in my cable package. They had a feature about animal police, in the US and other places. These people went around and saved mistreated animals (and prosecuted the owners). All fine, except ... Ever so often they encountered a totally emaciated horse, or a deranged fighter dog. Or other poor creatures way beyond reasonable repair.

And they took them in, often with great trouble, and traumatizing them further in the process, gave them a thorough examination and then put them up for adoption, except for a few a few basket cases which were "humanely euthanized".

Excuse me, but the most humane thing to do with quite a lot of these poor creatures would be a rifle bullet, right where they were found.

(Rant over)

Hans

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

I saw a documentary about the dry season in Africa, a dying elephant lying by a water hole was eaten alive by lions (who started at the tail so the elephant couldn't bite). Nature is vicious.

 

[fuelair]

I saw a documentary about the dry season in Africa, a dying elephant lying by a water hole was eaten alive by lions (who started at the tail so the elephant couldn't bite). Nature is vicious.

Logical, not vicious. Though animals are not capable of logical or vicious for the most part.

 

[Dragonrock]

Logical, not vicious. Though animals are not capable of logical or vicious for the most part.

I think "logical, messy, and efficient" is a good description of nature in all it's horrific glory.

 

[Xulld]

I saw a documentary about the dry season in Africa, a dying elephant lying by a water hole was eaten alive by lions (who started at the tail so the elephant couldn't bite). Nature is vicious.

What we call humane is a completely fabricated mental construct. Incredibly useful for societies of humans, but completely meaningless to predators of other species who cannot use abstraction as we do.

Looking at the stats for human sociopaths and psychopaths should give everyone pause in that regard.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

What we call humane is a completely fabricated mental construct. Incredibly useful for societies of humans, but completely meaningless to predators of other species who cannot use abstraction as we do.

So? It's our feelings that we are concerned about.

Looking at the stats for human sociopaths and psychopaths should give everyone pause in that regard.

Yes, and we don't want to encourage them...

People go to zoos to see the cute animals in a safe environment. We want those animals to be well cared for and happy, but having to keep them in captivity makes us uneasy. To find out that the cute animal we saw at the zoo yesterday was slaughtered and fed to the lions simply because it was 'surplus to requirements' is a bit much for some people. Suddenly we are face-to-face with the cold hard facts of our brutality towards other species, and we don't like it.

But not everybody. Seems there are a few sociopaths and psychopaths on this board who actually enjoy the idea.

 

[Dinwar]

I haven't read the full thread, but why did the zoo kill it first? Why not allow the lions to do so? Or the hyenas. I mean, it's not ENTIRELY ecologically incorrect to kill it first--lions are notorious for stealing other animals' kills--but it's a bit curious.

On a car tour of Longleat a bit later, with our young children, we passed lions chewing on calves' heads. What to say to the kids?

Same thing my parents and grandparents told me: that's nature's way. Those animals eat the other animals to survive.

I suspect people get worked up about this because it forces them to confront the fact that their fluffy ideas about keeping animals is nonsense - i.e. they want to pretend that its like in a kids film where all the animals are cute etc. (and maybe even talk to each other in English and sing songs!).

I grew up in Ohio. Never hunted deer myself--I was more small game, rabbits anbd squirrels and such--but there were a LOT of deer hunters. So many, in fact, that the schools had special provisions for taking time off to hunt. Then there were the "Don't kill Bambi!!!" crowd....They simply could not wrap their heads around basic issues with overpopulation. Not even when those issues were right there in front of them--often in the form of a totaled car! I'll grant you, the killers didn't help (anyone who kills a deer and leaves the body to rot while taking the antlers is not a hunter), but the "Don't kill Bambi!!!" folks made hunting deer in a rational and sustainable manner impossible, and in my opinion are directly responsible for untold suffering among the deer population and a large number of human deaths.

 

[Jekyll's Guest]

I saw a documentary about the dry season in Africa, a dying elephant lying by a water hole was eaten alive by lions (who started at the tail so the elephant couldn't bite).

Sometimes my friend will eat a twix, and he strips all of the chocolate and caramel off before eating the biscuit, so I can image how disturbing the scene must have been to watch.