禁近亲繁殖 丹麦动物园处死长颈鹿遭声讨

This is the horrific moment schoolchildren crowded around to watch as the body of a perfectly healthy giraffe was chopped up before being fed to lions.

对于围观的孩子们来说这简直是可怕的一幕——一只健康的小长颈鹿被处死还被当作饲料喂狮子。

Despite more than 20,000 people signing an online petition to save two-year-old Marius, staff at Copenhagen Zoo yesterday went ahead and shot the animal with a bolt pistol.

尽管超过两万人在网上签名请愿拯救小长颈鹿“马里乌斯”，哥本哈根动物园方面还是用一把螺栓手枪结束了“马里乌斯”的性命。

Young children stood at arm’s length as his carcass was skinned and dissected before the meat was thrown to the lions.

站在近处的孩子们看着“马里乌斯”被剥皮、解剖，并被送给狮子当饲料。

The Danish zoo said the drastic move was needed to combat inbreeding and insisted the display was educational.

丹麦动物园称这一极端举措是为了禁止近亲交配，并坚称当众解剖是为了普及动物学知识。

But animal rights campaigners last night condemned the killing of Marius, saying it exposed the cruel reality of welfare even in Europe’s top zoos.

但在昨晚，动物权利倡导人士谴责了丹麦动物园杀死“马里乌斯”这一举动。他们称这一行为暴露了人类剥夺动物幸福的残酷现实，即便是在欧洲最好的动物园里。

Marius’s plight had triggered worldwide outpourings of protest, including an offer to rehome him in Britain, with many saying they were sickened by a zoo killing a healthy animal.

“马里乌斯”陷入困境曾引起世界范围内如潮的抗议，一家英国动物园也曾提议收养这只小长颈鹿。很多人称他们对于动物园处死健康动物的这一举动感到恶心。

A spokesman said parents were allowed to decide whether their children should watch what the zoo regarded as an important display of scientific knowledge about animals, adding that it would have been ‘foolish’ to let the meat go to waste.

一位发言人称，家长有权决定是否携带孩子去动物园围观这一过程。园方认为这是对科学知识的重要展示，并称浪费长颈鹿肉是“愚蠢的”。