Copenhagen: A Danish zoo that made international headlines in February when it killed a healthy giraffe named Marius is once again in the news after it killed four lions to make way for a new male. According to the report, the magnificent beasts were killed on Monday. Tobias Stenbaek Bro, a spokesman for the Copenhagen Zoo confirmed the killing.
Two of those were young lions that were not old enough to survive by themselves and would have been killed by the new male lion if it had the chance, Mr Bro was quoted as saying in what can only be called a justification for the zoo’s actions.
He added that the zoo had tried to place them elsewhere, “but unfortunately there wasn't any interest.” The other two are the youngsters’ parents, described by the Copenhagen Zoo as a “very old” breeding pair, the report said.
The new male lion was brought from Givskud Zoo, also in Denmark, to form a breeding group with the Copenhagen Zoo’s two 18-month-old females, born on site in 2012, the report revealed. The zoo had to put down the old lions and their young offspring “because of the natural structure and behaviour” of the lion pride, the Copenhagen Zoo said in a prepared statement. The newcomer is about 3 years old, large for his age and healthy, the zoo said.
