Remind me not to take the kids to the Copenhagan petting zoo. Animal activists are appalled this week after the Copenhagan Zoo killed a young giraffe even though there was an offer from another zoo to take the animal. The zoo decided to slaughter and autopsy Marius, 2, in front of school children and then throw the meat to lions to eat.

The zoo used a bolt gun rather than lethal injection so not to contaminate the meat. It then hacked the animal into chunks in front of small children. A private donor offered $680,000 to save Marius, and thousands of people signed a petition to prevent the killing. Moreover, British zoo contacted the Copenhagen Zoo to say that they would take Marius.

The zoo however insisted on killing him and said that it was necessary under European rules regarding in-breeding. Zoo officials called Marius just one of those “surplus problems now and then” that must be addressed as part of an international breeding program. That is odd since you could just not breed the animal or even sterilize the animal rather than kill him. As for the kids, the officials said that they “were really very enthusiastic, asked a lot of good questions.”