上週被哥本哈根動物園宰殺長頸鹿之舉惹惱的動物愛好者，在聽聞另一間丹麥動物園表示，幾日後可能也會殺掉一隻長頸鹿時，難掩其憤怒。

（上圖）哥本哈根動物園遭處死的小長頸鹿馬呂斯生前照片，圖攝於2014年2月7日。（圖文／路透）

不過，在丹麥西部的日德蘭動物園14日表示，至少在近期內暫無此計畫後，他們和這隻長頸鹿暫時能鬆一口氣。

儘管有數萬份為之請命的線上連署，哥本哈根動物園的長頸鹿馬呂斯最後仍被宰殺。館方在槍殺牠之前，給牠吃了牠最愛的裸麥麵包當作早餐。

馬呂斯被當眾解剖後，部分屍體被用來餵食動物園內其他動物，另一些則被送到丹麥及海外的研究計畫作研究用。

在哥本哈根動物園殺掉這隻18個月大的健康長頸鹿後，動物園職員收到死亡威脅。

哥本哈根動物園的長頸鹿隸屬一項國際繁殖計畫，旨在維持歐洲動物園維持健康的長頸鹿族群，確保只有無血緣關係的長頸鹿能夠繁殖。

「如果某種動物的基因庫已完整表現在一個群體中，再額外繁殖出這種動物就會是多餘的。」哥本哈根動物園科學主管霍爾斯特說：「當大象族群中公象太多時，我們也會碰到一樣問題。」

在馬呂斯被殺後數天，日德蘭動物園向記者表示，他們可能會接收一隻母長頸鹿，因此可能得殺死他們原有的其中一隻公長頸鹿，避免牠們為了爭奪新來的母長頸鹿打架。

巧合的是，這隻可能被殺的長頸鹿也叫做馬呂斯。

「若繁殖計畫的協調者決定牠應該要被消滅，我們就會這麼做。」日德蘭動物園飼養員波爾森當時表示：「國外許多動物園不這麼做，但他們的動物都生活在極差的環境中，也不被允許繁殖。我們認為這麼做不好。」

不過，日德蘭動物園15日在臉書張貼一則以「問題已解決」為標題的貼文，表示館方得知他們「近期內」不會接收那隻母長頸鹿。

瑞典動物權益組織副主席伯格維爾表示，動物園宰殺健康動物的情形其實很常見，理由通常是這些動物不適合繁殖、缺乏飼育空間，或大眾不喜愛這些動物。

「動物園得考量到他們的收益。」她說：「重要的是，大眾應該了解到，會被殺掉的不只是馬呂斯而已，實情是很常有健康動物被殺。」

伯格維爾表示，為了在動物園內擁有各種生物物種，個別動物個體得為此受苦。困養動物的繁殖計畫會造成基因庫有限的問題，這也是導致馬呂斯被殺的原因。

「最好的辦法，就是不要為了人類的觀賞目的而去繁殖動物。」她說。（路透）

▲哥本哈根動物園表示公開肢解小長頸鹿的屍體能教育大眾，圖為民眾看著獸醫拿著馬呂斯的腳，圖攝於2014年2月9日。（圖文／路透）

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Animal lovers enraged by Copenhagen Zoo's decision to kill a giraffe last week could barely contain their anger when a second Danish zoo said it might put down a another of the animals a few days later.

But they, and the giraffe, had a reprieve（1） on Friday when Jyllands Park Zoo in Western Denmark said it now had no such plans, for the immediate future at least.

Copenhagen Zoo's Marius was killed despite the pleas（2） of thousands who signed online petitions to save him. He was given his favourite breakfast of rye bread and then shot.

After an autopsy（3）, some meat from Marius's carcass（4） was fed to other zoo animals and some was sent to research projects in Denmark and abroad for study.

Staff at Copenhagen Zoo have received death treats after the zoo killed the 18-month-old healthy giraffe.

Copenhagen Zoo's giraffes are part of an international breeding（5） programme that aims to maintain a healthy giraffe population in European zoos by ensuring that only unrelated giraffes breed.

"If an animal's genes are well represented in a population, further breeding with that particular animal is unwanted," the zoo's scientific director Bengt Holst said. "We could face the same problem with an elephant if there are too many males."

Days later Jyllands Park told journalists it might be about to receive a female giraffe, and might have to kill one of its males, to stop them fighting over the new arrival.

By a coincidence, both condemned beats were called Marius.

"If the breeding programme coordinator decides that he should be put down, then that's what we'll do," Zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen said. "Many places abroad where they do not do this, the animals live under poor conditions, and they are not allowed to breed either. We don't think that's ok."

In a statement posted on its Facebook page on Friday under the headline "problem solved", Jyllands Park said it had now heard it would not receive a female giraffe "any time soon".

Camilla Bergvall, vice chairwoman of Animal Rights Sweden, said it was common for zoos to kill healthy animals because they were not suitable for breeding, the zoo lacked room for them or there was little public interest in them.

"Zoos have to think about their revenues," she said. "It is important to understand that this is not just about Marius. It happens quite often that healthy animals are killed."

Bergvall said keeping species in zoos caused the individual animals to suffer. Breeding animals for captivity created the limited gene pool problem that led to Marius's death.

"The best thing is not to breed animals for people to look at," she said.（Reuters）

1.reprieve（n.）暫緩

2.plea（n.）懇求

3.autopsy（n.）屍體解剖

4.carcass（n.）屍體

5.breed（v.）繁殖