Copenhagen Zoo Kills Giraffe Marius: Case Highlights Difficulty Of Maintaining Genetic Diversity In Captivity

A Danish zoo shot one of its giraffes as it bent down to eat some bread, then butchered its carcass and fed it to lions -- all in the name of combating inbreeding. But while the issues cited by the zoo are very real, many experts are leery of the way the Copenhagen Zoo has handled the case of 2-year-old Marius the giraffe.