A day after it was known that a giraffe called Marius may be exterminated by Jyllands Park Zoo in Denmark, thousands of people have signed an online petition pleading the Danish authorities to spare the young animal's life.
This comes after a bid to save yet another baby giraffe with the same name was unsuccessful, as the 2-year-old animal was killed at the Copenhagen Zoo on 9 February, inviting a spate of online outrage from public and animal rights activists.
The Care 2 petition aimed at reciving 124,000 signs by 26 February. But it was short of just a few hundred signs by 16 February itself.
There has been another petition in Change.org aswell. As of now, the petition has amassed almost 12,000 signature, with only a little over 3,000 more needed.
"The world has lost one beautiful and graceful giraffe when Copenhagen Zoo killed Marius the giraffe. Now, Jyllands Park Zoo wants to kill yet another giraffe also named Marius," the petition written by Ryan Greye reads.
"We are begging Jylland's Park Zoo to please begin a new trend by showing that there is a more compassionate alternative to surplus animals or animals deemed not fit to breed within your zoo. Allow Marius, the giraffe within your care, to live out his days at a sanctuary or wildlife park. Please, do not kill another animal when there are so many other options."
Denmark has been condemned, especially on social media, for the killing of the first Marius. The incident sparked a spate of online outrage as live footage from Copenhagen showed disturbing images of the animal being dissected while the entire process was also shown to children for what they said, was meant to be an educational session on 'anatomy'.
In the live video broadcast by Ekstra Bladet, the zoo staff appeared to explain the process to the public, describing the giraffe's anatomical composition. The animal's meat was later reportedly fed to tigers and other carnivorous animals. Social media has already seen a series of outcry after the second Marius was suspected to go through the same ordeal that has been widely considered 'outrageous'.
Just like the first Marius, this one has also been deemed genetically invaluable by the authorities. The animal is considered 'surplus' to the zoo and therefore, may have to be eliminated to prevent in-breeding. The law on in-breeding has been a controversial one in Europe.
